Dawkins debunks dowsing

From part one of "The Enemies of Reason"
Richard Dawkins investigates dowsing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiomotor_effect

http://richarddawkins.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3&...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1092058/

http://www.richarddawkins.net

Category:

Education

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• dowsing
• paranormal
• magic
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• atheism
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• pseudoscience
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[BlueZephyrTG]

Holy shit. I can't believe there are grown adults who actually believe in something so childish.

[neverbelievethehype]

Whilst I get great pleasure in watching these people being "debunked" I do wish Dawkins wouldn't behave in such a smug manner in the process. Randi was so much more charming in his tests...

[SensibleStan]

I dont buy into dowsing, but I think this experiment could have been carried out better. Dowsers claim to find underground streams, they could easily say that they need a flowing current to find, at least if we had a moving flow of water (the dowsers natural enviroment) we could flat out disprove it, as a tent with a bottle of evian is a bit cheap haha. They will only end up making excuses like they are picking up drain pipes under the ground beneath the tent. But who knows the budget lol

[dwkjo]

I loved the guy who said that God was playing a joke on him when his dowsing failed. :)

[TheWookieWorks]

@jcotter1888 You have a good point, but I read in one place that there was a test in Sri-Lanka where the dowsers had far more success locating water in a real situation. I suppose you are right, but I can't help but wonder if the same test was repeated with known natural springs in a normal outdoor environment would have different results. Yes, my character limit on the last comment kept me from stating the numerous skepticisms I have about this. I feel a science fair project coming...

[Mutherzmilk]

Looks like there are 5 dowsers watching this

[jcotter1888]

@TheWookieWorks James Randi had people on his show who claimed they could do it under studio environments. If you can detect water with everything going in a natural environment then surely it would be far easier to detect in a studio environment. What variables do you speak of and how do they make it easier to detect water?

[TheWookieWorks]

You know, the one thing that these tests fail to do... is test dowsers in their "natural environment". I'm serious here, the logical majority of dowsing applications involve thousands of variables, all to do with the earth. A sanitary environment such as some buckets of water does not, and cannot compare to the innumerable variables involved in natural spring water/underground features. Tests in real situations, with teams dowsing in areas for a real purpose, is much more successful.

[annoythefish]

@ballahable Can't explain something but want to sound smart? Magnetic fields did it!

[DonQuichotteLiberia]

4:13 I love Richard Dawkins, making stupid people cry since 1941 :-D

[bersaba]

@ballahable

No. It's bullshit. There's been so many studies showing it's bullshit. One, to be fair, showed it's real (the infamous Munich study), but that studies results have been argued, and even then, something like 6 out of 500 studied showed "skill".

Regardless, as for you're well, in places with moderate rainfall you dig anywhere and you'll get water.

[ballahable]

Dowsing is real, it is how we found our well,

only certain people can do it though it's something to do with magnetic fields