Jekk hemm ħaġa waħda li tgħallimt fil-kulleġġ, kien kif faċilment tfixkilhom myself. I-tendenza li jżommu TV tiegħi fuq fl-isfond filwaqt li jien jaħdmu fuq il-kompjuter tiegħi, speċjalment tard bil-lejl meta I am normalment tifi gwerra rebbieħa kontra l-irqad. The other night something did catch my eye: a man holding dowsing rods in his back yard. Volume up, let the bullshit flow. It was just a flash of idiocy in an otherwise good program on home improvement. I’ve become accustom to crap-based TV on networks such as the History Channel or a Discovery network (quality of their shows include gems like “The Haunted: ghosts and pets”), but I was a little surprised to see BS grace my local PBS station.
Over on the “American Woodshop” host Scott Phillips was constructing a beautiful garden arbor. You can watch the entire thing here for free: Episode 1609: Period Architectural Moldings and Trim. There are no time stamps on the clip, but the dowsing comes in around the mid-point. While demonstrating the materials needed to secure the wood to the ground he cautioned against digging haphazardly into your yard without knowing where the underground water, electrical or gas lines were: solid advice. So in order to do this you should (tqassir) “take pieces of coat-hanger, anything will do, turn them into an “L”. As I walk forward the bars cross – hemm (they cross) – right there is the irrigation line. 9 out of 10 people have this ability, but you should call in a professional if there is any doubt“. My translation “OK guys, don’t worry about calling in some guy to do this, figure it out this way”. Please tell me what man who seriously watches a home improvement show at midnight would cede authority to someone else before giving it the good ol’ college try? Even if we grant for a moment that 9 out of 10 people could do this, what about that one guy who can’t? Isn’t it irresponsible to suggest that you can avoid power/water/sewer/gas only 90% of the time? Oops, hit that pesky gas line…
Being a scientist, a skeptic and a procrastinator – I wrote Scott a message about this so I could avoid my work at hand. Today he kindly replied saying: (excerpt)
“Our bodies are electromagnetic fields. Disrupt a field and things happen…. I learned the technique mentioned from a city worker that they used to find lines. Not from a charlatan. My team witnessed the objective use of this technique.”
Briefly, no, our bodies are not electromagnets. Everyone can hold a compass, or TV… without screwing them up. Franz Mesmer coined the idea of “Animal Magnetism” in the last half of the 18th century (also invented “mesmerization” AKA hypnotism) – and had it abruptly debunked by Benjamin Franklin and others. I’m also a bit worried to hear that city workers are relying on dowsing to locate public lines! But to move onward, let us dig into the myths of dowsing. I agree that there seems to be somewhat of an intuitive truth when it comes to dowsing, however false it is scientifically, it remains compelling. Żgur… electrical things underground effect sensitive wires above. And wow, look at all these guys who can find water, or power, jew… lost people… jew bombs? kollox sew, let’s stick to water for this conversation.
(continued)
Regola numru wieħed: Leħja Occam tal. L-ispjegazzjoni sempliċi hija l-aktar probabbli. Għaliex il-wajers jiċċaqalqu? Easy – minħabba jiċċaqlaq idejn tiegħu. Jekk inti huma ugwalment obbligati li I am, jmorru tagħbija l-video I marbut hawn fuq ta 'Scott u vireg dowsing tiegħu. Watch lilu walk permezz tal-bieb bil-wajers u tara lemin tiegħu. Hija b'mod ċar twitches ġewwa li jċaqalqu l-wajer. I jaraw dan 10 ħinijiet u kull meta ssir aktar ovvju kif hu gets l-wajers li jiċċaqalqu. Fil-bidu thumbs tiegħu huma ikkontrollati b'mod strett kklampjata fuq il-quċċata biex jiġi evitat ċaqliq. Waqt mixi huwa loosens qabda tiegħu, imbagħad tilts jdejh. Hawnhekk, l-vireg jiċċaqalqu. Huwa hu tagħmel dan intenzjonalment? Fl-opinjoni tiegħi huwa estremament improbabbli. Scott m'għandha l-ebda motiv li trick telespettatur tiegħu, huwa ċar huwa fidi onest f'dan il-metodu. Mhux li jiġi individwat b'mod inġust Scott out – let’s throw someone else into the mix. Here is a great clip from James Randi; featuring Greg Price as he attempts to demonstrate “dowsing”.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMtuWymUzz4]
So why then doesn’t he notice his hands moving? It is a well understood phenomenon called the ideomotor effect. Essentially the wires are moved unconsciously by the user. Anyone who has ever held “dowsing” wires knows just how hard they are to hold still! Randi is a master at explaining just how these effects are generated by the user. And here is another video illustrating just how much more can be at play.
Or how about a clip from someone I actually like(d). Survivorman Les Stroud: skip to exactly 1:00. Come on Les… verament?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFGLYN05rRE&feature=related]
Allura, in the Canadian forests next to a lake you dowse for water. Of course you find it. And if you go to part 6 of the series and skip to 6:51 fil, inti tara minnhom fil-fatt ħaffer il-benesseri. Isibu ilma… iżda ma sisien baxx wisq qrib il-wiċċ li tiġbor ilma. Ifalli.
Ħafna dowsers pretensjoni jistgħu jsibu “vini” ilma ġieri taħt il-wiċċ bħal xmajjar. Sfortunatament, xejn fir-realtà jappoġġja t-talbiet tagħhom. Ħafna ilma taħt l-art jeżisti bħala parti minn water table, fejn l-ilma tinxtered kollha tal-ħamrija aktar jew anqas indaqs u skond il-topografija u blat saffi. Spjegazzjoni sempliċi għas-suċċess dowsing: jekk inti timxi ġo tarzna lura u punt fl inti se tolqot xi ħaġa eventually. Dan iwassalna fis-parti tnejn.
Regola numru tnejn: Psikoloġija. Matul l eons ta 'evoluzzjoni tal-bniedem ġejna mogħtija rigal speċjali wieħed, l-abbiltà li jkunu naturalment xjentisti horrible u Skeptics. Bini tarka xettiċi tiegħek huwa proċess li ma jaqax naturalment, u hija ħila li għandha tinżamm. Wara l-kollha biss jibqgħu xettiċi ma jfissirx I ma tista 'tkun sucker darba f' kull waqt. Thankfully dan ma xogħol aqwa fil assolutament tipproteġina mill ħtif aljeni, hauntings u l-attakki Bigfoot diżonesti. Meta niġu jistabbilixxi lilu aħna kreaturi soċjali li x-xewqa li jikkonformaw mad-grupp. Dan id-dokument riċenti (.pdf) barra mill-Università ta 'Maryland sfortunatament juri ftit il-punt. Filwaqt sondaġġi nies fuq it-twemmin paranormal huma miżruha-parteċipant bl-għarfien tal-popolarità u / jew l-pożizzjoni xjentifika dwar il-kwistjoni (mhux neċessarjament konformi mar-realtà). Parteċipanti mhux biss iffavorit qawwi konformità grupp, iżda kollox ċaħdet l-kunsens xjentifiku speċjalment meta ma kienx popolari. Bad aħbarijiet għalina Skeptics, aħbar kbira għall-lokal fortune teller tiegħek. Parir minn pari hija straordinarjament aktar effettiv minn fatti iebes, speċjalment jekk niġu minn persuna ta 'awtorità. Here is eżempju ieħor użu tal-drama tilqim. Ġenituri jemmnu ġenituri u huma naturalment distrustful tal-gvern u x-xjenza. (grazzi SGU għall-ewwel tiddiskuti dawn id-dokumenti fuq il-podcast). Soluzzjoni tiegħi huwa klonu Carl Sagan – a “Carl għal kull klassi” se jkun pjattaforma I jista 'joqgħod fuq. (<— copyright me, 2010).
Kemm minna huma xjenzati professjonali… u kemm huma xjenzati professjonali li jaħdmu għall-gvern jew huma ffinanzjati federalment? *slams ras fuq desk* Naħseb li l-aħjar li nistgħu nagħmlu huwa li jitħawlu pjanti taż-żerriegħa ta 'dubju u t-tama xi jum għal riżultati pożittivi. Iżda hawn ukoll għandna quddiemna aktar ostakli, nies ikollhom terribbli, terribbli memorji. Regardless of how certain you are of your memory it may easily be incorrect. There is a well documented neurology behind the formation of false memories. On top of this, we run into even more trouble: people become more likely to remember something is true if you tell them it is false. When you get down to it that makes sense. “Hey Mom – did you know that you can balance an egg any day of the year and not just on the equinox?” Mom will later recall (hypothetical conversation!) “oh yea… Chris was telling me something about how you can balance an egg only during the equinox”. Be careful how you word your rebuttals and try place them within a better context. If you remove “not just on the equinox” you leave a more permanent memory fragment – hopefully.
Psikoloġija tkompli tikseb fil-mod tagħna meta nikbru fl-ilmijiet misty 'l-istatistika u l-loġika. Allura bħala dowser inti twaqqaf testijiet u ta 'spiss jaqbżu l-opportunità li tipprova l-poteri inti behold. Scott faċilment appelli evidenza aneddotali tiegħu, li jiena ċert hu jemmen bis-sħiħ. Imma dak li hu wisq faċilment qbiżt huwa l- Raġuni għaliex dawk il-ħaddiema tal-belt tista 'b'mod preċiż Dowse. Huma għandhom il-mapep! Minflok stħarriġ bi grad għoli ta 'preċiżjoni xjentifika huma Whip mappa, isibu l-linji fl-art, u joħorġu u boċċa-sit. X'inhu l-aktar probabbli hija li huma biss jaħsbu dwar fejn il-linji kienu fuq il-mapep u subconsciously Dowsing “preċiż” għalihom. Dawn il-ħaddiema huma jimpenja lill-fallacy loġika ta 'raġunament post-hoc. Dan huwa, huma involontarjament skew testijiet tagħhom stess billi jkun jaf l-tweġibiet qabel iż-żmien. Huma jimxu fil-qasam, jiksbu hit suċċess, u jattribwixxu lill-dowsing u mhux il-mappa. Iżda naturalment jekk dawn hit linja allura kkritikat, li mappa kienet żbaljata! Huma vvalutata l-preċiżjoni tal-metodu tagħhom ibbażati biss fuq ir-riżultati pożittivi. Filwaqt Scott probabbilment fl-istess dgħajsa, huwa wkoll jimpenja lill-fallacy loġika ta 'appell lil xi awtorità / popolarità – jew “il-poplu”. Dawn il-ħaddiema uffiċjali tal-belt wera lili, Għalhekk huwa veru.
Regola numru tlieta: Qerq, għażla ferm inqas probabbli iżda validu madankollu. Fl-ebda mod am I jissuġġerixxu li Scott Phillips huwa cheater – biss gullible, fl-opinjoni tiegħi. Jafu li psychics ma jeżistux I ma jista 'qatt verament jafu l-intenzjonijiet ta' persuna oħra. I would rather assume someone is ignorant or gullible before believing them to be a cheater. Imma, sometimes you can’t help but to wonder (cough*Sylvia Browne*cough).
Phew, that should cover it, for now…
