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Split Thread Flabio's dowsing claim

jojonete said:
I'm not sure why nobody has asked these questions directly yet
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I can't answer for anyone else, but in my case it's because it's abundantly clear to me that flabio doesn't have the slightest clue what the answers are.

From the video he has posted it's clear he hasn't even grasped what the ideomotor effect is yet, and why a demonstration of it is not a demonstration that dowsing is capable of detecting underground water/pipes/cables whose position the dowser doesn't already know - which is what he would need to demonstrate to win the MDC.
 
flabio said:
Nope, it's not the ideomotor effect at all.
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The only way you'd know that is if you'd done a double blind test. Please describe the protocol you used to do one, and how much better than chance the results you obtained were.

There's no time or room for make believe in my line of work.
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There is nothing make believe about the ideomotor effect. It's reality is well documented.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideomotor_effect
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Yep, that's the one. Here's another good article about it:

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/ideomotor.html
 
flabio said:
Neat, my very own thread. Thanks guys!!!



Do you think I'd have gone through the trouble of making this YT video today if I were merely joking around?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhSDeKkdK0o&feature=youtu.be
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I will not just take your word that there are actual gas lines where you say they are. You may be right, you may be wrong. Without verification of the gas line being there, this video does not prove very much.

Have you thought about doing a self-test where the results can be verified, e.g. the one I proposed earlier?
 
From that video you have GOT to be a troll. What was that supposed to prove??
I think I will wait behind a tree for you. Guess what I will yell.
 
From the Wikipedia page for Troll

"In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human beings."

An almost text book description of the second video!
 
What worries me is that "he does this all the time at work" and that he "is going to redowse these lines and put the flags back in the earth".

So

Somewhere there are yellow flags stuck in a field showing where the gas lines are (or maybe not)

The San Bruno, CA gas line explosion is only a couple hours from where I live, many people were killed and a neighborhood burned to the ground. We take this kind of thing very seriously.

The idea that there is someone out there deciding where gas lines are by dowsing makes me uncomfortable. The idea that he said his co-workers also think this is okay makes me frightened.

Wonder if Tim Farley has any dowsing horror stories on his www.whatstheharm.net site?
 
Matty1973 said:
I don't know if Flabio is a troll or not, but in his other video he explains how it is funny to hide behind a rock in the park and shout "RETARD" at tourists as they pass by.
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Jeez - if Flabio moved in next to me I'd have my house on the market the very next day. Weird!

flabio said:
Nope, it's not the ideomotor effect at all. There's no time or room for make believe in my line of work.
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jojonete said:
I'm not sure why nobody has asked these questions directly yet
Pixel42 said:
I can't answer for anyone else, but in my case it's because it's abundantly clear to me that flabio doesn't have the slightest clue what the answers are.
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I thought posting the questions would be a good idea even if he had no idea about the answers.
In part, the goal of the questions was to find out if flabio is a troll. If he were, he'd just ignore the questions and go on with some random gibberish. If he's not, he'd do a very good effort to answer the questions.

If he did honestly try to answer the questions, that would (deservedly) greatly reduce trolling accusations on him. Furthermore, the answers could be used to design a protocol or, in the case the answer is "no idea", to tell flabio to go on testing until he got answers.

Flabio's answer was "Nope, it's not the ideomotor effect at all", which counts quite well as ignoring the questions and going on with random gibberish. Now I'll add myself to the "obvious troll" club and happily go to sleep (it's 12:36 AM here).
 
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Being deemed a troll by a bunch of trolls is really quite laughable to say the least. If I wanted to troll or engage in a flame war I'd do that on an appropriate troll board.

Anyways...


I've found someone who is willing to put me through the blindfold test, and should have YT vids up in the next couple of days. The fella who's agreed to test me also has no faith in my ability to dowse what so ever, not unlike everyone here. This should be good, do stay tuned...
 
Good for you. I hope it inspires you to actually apply for a one of the challenges and earn yourself a big cash prize. Otherwise this thread should probably be moved out of the challenges subforum and to the general skepticism subforum.

Ward
 
Well that was compelling. Totally unequivocal proof of something or other.

I thought you were supposed to find something you didn't know where it was or have I missed the point?

Next time I put my car keys on the table I'll dowse for them there then.
 
flabio said:
I've found someone who is willing to put me through the blindfold test, and should have YT vids up in the next couple of days. The fella who's agreed to test me also has no faith in my ability to dowse what so ever, not unlike everyone here. This should be good, do stay tuned...
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Meantime here's a prediction ($1m prize if correct?!): somehow I think we're going to be disappointed. :rolleyes:
 
flabio said:
I've found someone who is willing to put me through the blindfold test
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If you mean a double blinded test, then good. As has been pointed out until you have successfully located something whose position you did not already know, under circumstances where all sources of information other than dowsing have been carefully and methodically eliminated, you yourself cannot know for sure whether or not dowsing works.

It might be a good idea to post the test protocol you intend to use here first. There wouldn't be much point in you going to the time and trouble of doing a test if there are fundamental flaws in it, would there?
 
flabio said:
I've found someone who is willing to put me through the blindfold test, and should have YT vids up in the next couple of days. The fella who's agreed to test me also has no faith in my ability to dowse what so ever, not unlike everyone here. This should be good, do stay tuned...
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As Pixel42 notes, a blindfold test is not the same as a double blind test. Could you clarify what you're actually going to be doing in your test?
 
flabio said:
I've found someone who is willing to put me through the blindfold test ...
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If Flabio is confusing 'blindfold' test with 'blind' test I think we could be here for the long haul!
 
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Mashuna said:
As Pixel42 notes, a blindfold test is not the same as a double blind test. Could you clarify what you're actually going to be doing in your test?
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I'm not sure a double-blind test is necessary, or even practicable. A simple blind test (but definitely not 'blindfold' test) should suffice.
 
Southwind17 said:
I'm not sure a double-blind test is necessary, or even practicable. A simple blind test (but definitely not 'blindfold' test) should suffice.
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It's essential that no-one who knows where whatever it is flabio is dowsing for is buried is present during the test, as they can inadvertantly give him clues with their body language. So the test must be double blinded: neither the testee nor the observers can know where the targets are.

ETA: http://www.skepdic.com/control.html

A double-blind test is a control group test where neither the evaluator nor the subject knows which items are controls
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