Dowsing from Enemies of Reason

PACTISS.org - Philosophers and Critical Thinkers in Senior Schools. Dawkins' superb demonstration of the value of the double blind experiment.

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[alexjohnc3]

Why would any of those things have an effect on the experiment? Dowsers are supposed to be able to detect water, and those questions in no way compromise that ability. It would make much more sense to question the ability of those specific individuals to dowse.

[thenigotoffthebus]

Although not shown in this particular clip one of the things that usually happens in these tests is that the dowsers are allowed an open test where they know where the target is in order to "calibrate" their abilities.

They all seem to hit the target just fine when they know where it is. Wouldn't your list of excuses affect the dummy run too?

Check out the james randi clips on dowsing. Running water & all goes well during open tests. But they all fail the test proper. I cant see any excuse.

[ammer1010]

this is all well and good but no one is talking about the warlocks psychic attacking the dowsers to throw off the results

[mikfoz1969]

Special pleading makes me smile

[nCorelli]

While I have the utmost respect for the scientific process as well as the questions you've raised I feel that if we apply an elementary amount of logic and reason to Dowsing we can all draw the same conclusion:

This is fucking horseshit.

[ehouse1959]

What kind of water was in the sealed water bottle.

Do dowsers usually work in marquees.

Do dowsers usually look for water in plastic boxes, or even plastic water bottles.

Do dowsers usually work with so many skeptics.

Do dowsers usually have a film crew handy.

Does it matter what shape-colour the marquee is.

Did this affect the experiment,what time of day was it.

Do dowsers normally look for fresh running water.

Thousands of questions on this so called scientific experiment.

[SparrowisSexy]

"He's havin his laugh ain't he?"

Aw Richard was sweet to laugh along with that, but on the depressing face of it, these dowsers have effectively wasted their life.