• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Dowsing it work for me!!

BTMO said:
So... without equivocating, are you going to front up for a fairly run, objective test and have your dowsing ability tested - yes or no?
Click to expand...

I thought I have made it clear, most of the list is welcome to call in but to have a "Dick Smith" mob invading. Dick Smith who claims to be all Aussi destroyed the fledging eletronic industry by making his fortune importing cheap stuff from Hong Kong so he and his sceptics can ping off. As I have said a number of times not interested in the half baked tests. If you come here I will spend time showing you dowsing with coffee and a laugh. As for that other brave person don't bother sending address as I already know.
 
Confused.

How do dowsers claim their 'gift' works ?

What do you think of all the dowsers in the past who have failed tests ? Were they frauds and cons ?
 
Welcome to the forums LandR! :)

LandR said:
How do dowsers claim their 'gift' works ?
Click to expand...


There are as many theories of how it works as there are dowsers.

What do you think of all the dowsers in the past who have failed tests ? Were they frauds and cons ?
Click to expand...


According to some people, the skeptics used the invincible power of the raised eyebrow to inhibit the dowsers' abilities.
 
Old Bob said:
As I have said a number of times not interested in the half baked tests.
Click to expand...


The only kind of test that isn't "half baked" is the kind where the probability of chance success is known in advance, so that the dowser's actual success rate can be compared to it. Unless you're prepared to undertake such a test there is no point in any sceptic wasting their time with you, and your unsupported claim that dowsing works will remain just that - an unsupported claim.
 
Old Bob said:
I thought I have made it clear, most of the list is welcome to call in but to have a "Dick Smith" mob invading. Dick Smith who claims to be all Aussi destroyed the fledging eletronic industry by making his fortune importing cheap stuff from Hong Kong so he and his sceptics can ping off. As I have said a number of times not interested in the half baked tests. If you come here I will spend time showing you dowsing with coffee and a laugh.
Click to expand...


Can we take it from this that you're not prepared to undertake a test of your abilities under controlled conditions?
 
Old Bob said:
I thought I have made it clear, most of the list is welcome to call in but to have a "Dick Smith" mob invading. Dick Smith who claims to be all Aussi destroyed the fledging eletronic industry by making his fortune importing cheap stuff from Hong Kong so he and his sceptics can ping off. As I have said a number of times not interested in the half baked tests. If you come here I will spend time showing you dowsing with coffee and a laugh. As for that other brave person don't bother sending address as I already know.
Click to expand...

By "half baked", do you mean tests that aren't agreed in advance between you and the people doing the testing, with no opportunity to cheat on either side, or something else?

The "Dick Smith" type of tests that I have seen footage of were very fair - and all of the dowsers agreed to the conditions beforehand. When they failed, of course, all of the excuses in the world were trotted out.

This is just me, but if I were to do a test of this nature, and I agreed to the conditions beforehand, and failed, I would man-up to it and accept that I was wrong, and that I had been deluding myself and possibly others for a very long time.

But that is just me...

So what sort of test would *you* consider fair? That is the guts of these skeptic tests. The person making the claim describe what they can do, and demonstrate it.

The role of the skeptic is to do little more than make sure no cheating, deliberate or accidental, occurs.
 
Sideroxylon said:
Here are the Randi / Dick Smith dowsing tests mentioned in this thread:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7461912885649996034#

Old Bob, what do you reckon about the way these tests were conducted and why do you think they all failed despite their prior confidence? Do you reckon you could pass the box test they used?
Click to expand...

Only watched the pipe test, seen it years ago also. Could I do better? maybe not. I have tried to explain how I think it works and that hubble hubble is to confusing. Dowsers have trained themselves to think a certain way and to put it crudely it would be like peeing in front of a crowd, just won't happen. Plus the double target of pipe water or pipe no water. We may as well agree to disagree. Also I believe to work one side of our brains the other side needs to be inactive, the right hemisphere does the dreaming and dowsing and connects with the mind. The left does the rest, awareness of those around plus the tension. If a friend or kin walk with a dowser it has no affect but a mob watching like hawks----I'll just go on dowsing and most of the list will say what ever. Australia has thousands of dowsers. PS. I can't bend spoons or convince anyone but bore and well owners.
 
Childish and pathetic dissembling. You can't dowse. Put up or shut up.

Do you want my address?

And to anyone looking at this thread, repressed homosexuality is not something to be ashamed of.
 
Last edited:
Old Bob said:
Dowsers have trained themselves to think a certain way...............
Click to expand...
Yes, and we are trying to help you by opening your brain to other ideas, the main one is, "You are fooling yourself". We all would like to have special powers, but at some point we learn that Harry Potter is only in a story.

Paul

:) :) :)
 
Old Bob said:
hubble hubble is to confusing. Dowsers have trained themselves to think a certain way and to put it crudely it would be like peeing in front of a crowd, just won't happen.
Click to expand...


Easily accomodated. Use sealed/buried containers, then you can be left completely alone whilst you dowse them at your leisure and mark which is which. Someone else only needs to be present when the containers are unsealed/dug up, to see how many you managed to correctly identify.

Plus the double target of pipe water or pipe no water.
Click to expand...


The target can be whatever you want. Whatever you think you can successfully dowse.
 
Pixel42 said:
Easily accomodated. Use sealed/buried containers, then you can be left completely alone whilst you dowse them at your leisure and mark which is which. Someone else only needs to be present when the containers are unsealed/dug up, to see how many you managed to correctly identify.
Click to expand...

Yes. That's a valid approach. As I said earlier, it is easy to design a test that is objective and satisfactory to honest dowsers.
 
Pixel42 said:
Easily accomodated. Use sealed/buried containers, then you can be left completely alone whilst you dowse them at your leisure and mark which is which. Someone else only needs to be present when the containers are unsealed/dug up, to see how many you managed to correctly identify.




The target can be whatever you want. Whatever you think you can successfully dowse.
Click to expand...
This is all futile, no matter how the test is set-up, and no matter how much they agree with the testing method, after they fail, and they all fail, they will come up with some BS as to why they failed.

Paul

:) :) :)
 
Last edited:
Paulhoff said:
This is all futile, no matter how the test is set-up, and no matter how much they agree with the testing method, after they fail, and they all fail, they will come up with some BS as to why they failed.

Paul

:) :) :)
Click to expand...

I think Randi made a good point in the video linked to earlier. They aren't trying to change the mind of the dowsers themselves they have been doing it for too long and it's such an ingrained belief that nothing will change their mind. It's important though to show them as being wrong to stop them influencing a younger generation. I agree with this, you will stop woo not by changing the minds of the woo practitioners but by hopefully showing potential victims they are in reality charlatans.
 
Old Bob said:
.. Also I believe to work one side of our brains the other side needs to be inactive, the right hemisphere does the dreaming and dowsing and connects with the mind. The left does the rest, awareness of those around plus the tension. If a friend or kin walk with a dowser it has no affect but a mob watching like hawks----I'll just go on dowsing and most of the list will say what ever...
Click to expand...
The brain doesn't work that way at all, as most people here know. All this does is to provide an excuse for the inevitable failure.
 
Old Bob, the basic question addressed by such tests is, “Are you able to find your target at a hit rate better than chance?” If you can’t answer that then how can you claim that dowsing works? Re your comment about bathroom stage fright, if there was a bold dowser (or one with exhibitionist tendencies) out there they would turn our understanding of the world upside down (as Randi pointed out).

What did you mean by “Plus the double target of pipe water or pipe no water.”? Did you notice how the dowsers had no problem getting a “signal” when they knew where the water was? Did you note they also surveyed the test are with their rods for any conflicting signals? How do you explain that?

Are you personally ok with holding beliefs in comforting fantasies? How important is it for you to have the best possible understanding of reality? From a sceptical perspective, unless you show can find stuff better than chance (which can only be demonstrated under controlled conditions) the conclusion many of us will draw is that you are kidding yourself.

Anyway, if it was possible I’d love to see you doing your thing even without the stark lights of a rigorous test.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom