James Randi Debunking Diviners 43 mins

RationalResponseSquad's picture

In this video we see a thorough debunking of an entire industry worth of "diviners" who are people claiming to be able to locate objects, metal, water, etc. underground through the use of metal rods and some sort of supernatural power. Watch as James Randi make one of his finest appeals to reason and the skeptical point of view. You'll see all sorts of diviners using all sorts of divining rods in hopes of winning the tests. At that point the JREF challenge was 10,000, today it's 1 million dollars. The video was shot in 1980 in Sydney Australia.
 






Keywords: Sylvia Brown Cleo Psychics Uri Geller Skeptic Shermer James Randi JREF magic David Blaine David Copperfield spoon bending paranormal ghosts supernatural astrology
 

 

divining

I cannot open video on divining now did I see it for sale. I'm very interested in this subject.

ed lanpher wrote:I cannot

I fixed it for ya.

NoMoreCrazyPeople's picture

Dowsing is nonsense.

Dowsing is nonsense.

Kapkao's picture

NoMoreCrazyPeople

NoMoreCrazyPeople wrote:

Dowsing is nonsense.

Without watching 43 mins of bullshit quackery I could smell a mile away: Dowsing? What's that? Is it where you jump down the English Stonehenge while taking Ghostbusters-esque measurements?

 

Sidenote: I wonder if this vid covers "mucoid plaque". Would be funny in a schadenfreude sort of way if it did.

“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)

Answers in Gene Simmons's picture

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You have not run into dowsing yet?

 

Basically, it is taking some object and holding it while walking around. Supposedly, you can find hidden stuff by having some awareness of how it moves in your hand.

 

I am aware of a dowsing product which is sold to high school principals. It is a cheap antenna on a hinge and it is supposed to help them find pot is student's lockers. Does it work? Sure, if you open up enough lockers, you will eventually find some pot.

 

Here is a great demonstration of the product:

NoMoreCrazyPeople wrote:
Never ever did I say enything about free, I said "free."

=

Kapkao's picture

Answers in Gene Simmons

Answers in Gene Simmons wrote:

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }

You have not run into dowsing yet?

 

Basically, it is taking some object and holding it while walking around. Supposedly, you can find hidden stuff by having some awareness of how it moves in your hand.

 

I am aware of a dowsing product which is sold to high school principals. It is a cheap antenna on a hinge and it is supposed to help them find pot is student's lockers. Does it work? Sure, if you open up enough lockers, you will eventually find some pot.

 

Here is a great demonstration of the product:

I had a strong suspicion of what dowsing was (now confirmed), but I was attempting to be sarcastic. I failed. :/

“A meritocratic society is one in which inequalities of wealth and social position solely reflect the unequal distribution of merit or skills amongst human beings, or are based upon factors beyond human control, for example luck or chance. Such a society is socially just because individuals are judged not by their gender, the colour of their skin or their religion, but according to their talents and willingness to work, or on what Martin Luther King called 'the content of their character'. By extension, social equality is unjust because it treats unequal individuals equally.” "Political Ideologies" by Andrew Heywood (2003)

harleysportster's picture

Answers in Gene Simmons

Answers in Gene Simmons wrote:

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }

You have not run into dowsing yet?

 

Basically, it is taking some object and holding it while walking around. Supposedly, you can find hidden stuff by having some awareness of how it moves in your hand.

 

I am aware of a dowsing product which is sold to high school principals. It is a cheap antenna on a hinge and it is supposed to help them find pot is student's lockers. Does it work? Sure, if you open up enough lockers, you will eventually find some pot.

 

Here is a great demonstration of the product:

 

 

That was a great video, AIGS. I enjoyed watching Michael Shermer pull some of that nonsense apart. I keep meaning to pick up his book, Why people believe strange things and have not gotten around to it yet.

“It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.”
― Giordano Bruno