Real funny, Scotty, now beam down my clothes!
Dreamy Piscean looking outside the fishbowl...
Tyler Ludens wrote:This article discusses some of the science of dowsing: https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17532-why-dowsing-makes-perfect-sense/
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Out of the many people I tested; my colleagues and others, I only ever found one who got no response at all. He already knew what I was up to and had rigid ideas about “Science”, which could have got in the way?
Always question what you know: if you know something but have no evidence for it, sorry, it’s Belief and not Knowledge.
Where my chicks have roamed no grass grows!
Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.
But isn't that saying that belief trumps science? Further on you say:
Always question what you know: if you know something but have no evidence for it, sorry, it’s Belief and not Knowledge.
And that, to me, is where dowsing lands on the scale. If it only 'works' for those who believe in it, that's not science. Gravity, for example, works whether you believe in it or not. So substitute having all your test subjects step off a chair, and even the guy 'who knows what you're up to' will end up on the floor.
I found this quote on the BBC Science Focus website: There is some evidence that dowsers can find water or oil when more traditional methods have failed, which seems miraculous. But experiments show that this works only when the dowser has some unconscious knowledge of where the target is. For example, they might be using clues from vegetation, geography or temperature. They might not realise what they’re doing, and so believe in the supernatural power of the rods. Experiments have been done that eliminate these possibilities, by running water through one of 10 pipes laid underground, or moving the position of water pipes. Under such controlled conditions dowsers do not succeed.
I do agree there is the possibility that there is some internal magnetism that only some people have (such as those who cannot wear a traditional watch), and maybe science hasn't discovered it yet, but that would have been more likely 100 years ago. Then again, I look at my observation of the guy with the shovel I mentioned in an earlier comment, and wonder. But, it wasn't any sort of scientific controlled experiment. For all I know he had other knowledge of where the buried line was, and was just having fun putting on a show.
It's definitely an interesting subject to me, and despite being very much 'science minded', I'm open to possibilities. Years ago I had neighbors who were both (husband and wife) very smart engineers. Science people. Yet they were also very religious, and we had a couple long discussions about how absolutely unscientific it is to have a belief in any god. They freely admitted that was so, but said they hoped to be correct about their faith in something with zero evidence. I think dowsing maybe fits that description.
Real funny, Scotty, now beam down my clothes!
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Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.
Robert Ray wrote:William Barrett did an extensive study in G.B. HIs book might be worth a read.
A build too cool to miss:Mike's GreenhouseA great example:Joseph's Garden
All the soil info you'll ever need:
Redhawk's excellent soil-building series
Our inability to change everything should not stop us from changing what we can.
He immediately called his cousin who, in his words, was "good at witchin' burred war and lines"
Where my chicks have roamed no grass grows!
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
Real funny, Scotty, now beam down my clothes!
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