https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync By Robert Koesters en-us 2016-11-28 05:41:38 UTC 2016-11-28 21:09:34 UTC hello@padlet.com rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140087060 2016-11-28 05:42:43 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140087060 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140089185 In this video, psychologist Chris French set up a double blind experiment to investigate the accuracy of dowsing rods. The experiment demonstrated that dowsing had results that would be expected by guesswork. One dowser said that nobody knows how dowsing works and that some suppose it is god. When referring to the course content "Why People Believe Weird Things" this is an example of "simplicity" because it is much easier to believe that dowsing is performed by God than to explain it scientifically. When this same dowser is confronted when he didn't perform well in the experiment he says that God is playing a joke. This is again "simplicity" because it is easier to believe God is playing a joke than to change a belief that had been held for a very long time. It is very important that the experiment is double blinded because many of the participants have been dowsing for decades which gives them a bias that would make the dowsing rods seemingly find water instead of the participant having a skeptical mind.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VAasVXtCOI]]> 2016-11-28 06:28:57 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140089185 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140099161 This article explains a likely explanation as to why people believe in dowsing as well as why it seems to work.  The article explains that dowsing seems to work based on “ideomotor movements” – subconscious muscle movements (similar to what occurs with Ouija boards).  Since a very small muscle movement is all it takes to move a dowsing rod, the effect can be very convincing because the dowser is not consciously moving their hands for the dowsing rod to move.  The article also explains that it is interesting and stimulating when the dowsing rods “work” and if one wants the dowsing rods to work it can be frustrating when they don’t work.  When one wants something to work, that’s when ideomotor movements are more likely to happen.  Therefore, a very probable reason why people believe in dowsing is because they want to believe.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17532-why-dowsing-makes-perfect-sense/

]]> 2016-11-28 08:06:38 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140099161 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140099545

This is an image is a picture of a person using a dowsing rod.  It was drawn after observing the use of a dowsing rod in the late 1700's.  This illustrates the fact that one pseudoscientific red flag of dowsing is "ancient wisdom" because the practice of Dowsing has existed for centuries. As we have learned from history, ancient humans did not have sufficient knowledge how the world works compared to modern humans. This suggests that the ancient practice of dowsing may not be a very credible practice.]]> 2016-11-28 08:09:41 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140099545 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140101409

This is an image of a possible explanation of how dowsing rods supposedly work. Although an explanation of what this image means can not be found, it seems to suggest the use of mystical energy which is a common pseudoscientific red flag.  The fact that nobody can provide an explanation of how dowsing actually works demonstrates one of the reasons for belief "unexplained"

]]> 2016-11-28 08:22:24 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140101409 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140105042 This is an image of medium Anthony Kilner using dowsing rods to detect paranormal activity. Interestingly, the pseudoscience of using dowsing rods seems to have slightly overlapped with the pseudoscience of ghost hunting. It is also interesting that dowsing rods can supposedly find anything from water to metal to ghosts. One would think that there would be interference from metal when trying to find bombs or interference from water in the ground when trying to find metal.

http://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/storypad-epT9RfMVpQQhCeay3FezYN/27239a07-87c0-466c-b4d6-e1c024a1ff29.jpg/r0_4_1900_1072_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg]]> 2016-11-28 08:44:26 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140105042 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140110581 This article takes a look at weighs the probability that dowsing actually works. The first pseudoscientific red flag that stands out is "ancient wisdom". The article mentions that dowsing has been practiced for thousands of years!  The article concludes that dowsing.  The author is impressed that when the dowsers in one experiement were looking for water, accurately stated the depth of the water 10-20% of the time. This is not particularly impressive though because these are likely the accuracy that one would get through guess work.
http://farmersalmanac.com/weather/2015/07/27/dowsing-fact-fake/   ]]> 2016-11-28 09:25:30 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140110581 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140111244 2016-11-28 09:30:37 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140111244 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140122000 In this video, James Randi responds to a dowser Greg Price whom attempts to prove the legitimacy of dowsing.  James  Randi points out the flaws of Greg Price's experiments.  The experiement is not double blinded, and even after Greg blocked his vision, he is only one step away from where he expects the rods to cross. The dowsing rods are not helping him find anything that he didn't already know was there.  Interestingly, one can observe Greg moving his wrists to make the dowsing rods do what he thinks should happen - somthing that Greg is most likely doing subconsciously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMtuWymUzz4]]> 2016-11-28 10:33:22 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140122000 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140227597 This video The video mentioned that Iraq's government faced criticism after attacks in October-December of 2009 resulted in over 300 deaths. This shows the real dangers that pseudoscience can pose when used in such a critical situation such as bomb detection.
Simon Trundle mentioned in the video that if a higher-up in the military is using these dowsing rods to detect bombs, "the lower ranks will never question it".  This shows that dowsing can have the pseudoscientific red flag of "appeal to authority"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhXa1ewmiEw]]> 2016-11-28 16:11:02 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140227597 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140281256 2016-11-28 18:21:21 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140281256 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140291040
This is an article that attempts to explain and prove the effectiveness of dousing.  The author has some very interesting theories to do with electrical charges but as an Electrical Engineering student, I can confirm that these theories are not quite accurate.  For example, this article claims dowsing rods can pickup on ac current from either pipelines or electrical wires.  This is blatantly  false as pipelines do not create ac current (or any electrical current) and the electrical wires underground are insolated by many feet of soil which insulates the wire.  The author also claims to have carried out experiments to test the effectiveness of dowsing rods but gives no details as to what the experiments were and how they were controlled.  The author of this article certainly wants to believe that dowsing works and has an emotional connection as well as a bias.
http://www2.connect.ab.ca/~tylosky/]]> 2016-11-28 18:41:30 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140291040 rkoesters_88 https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140298912 2016-11-28 19:00:23 UTC https://padlet.com/rkoesters_88/p6z0d44uiync/wish/140298912