On 10/8/2025 at 5:52 PM, Myran said:

Anecdotes don't prove a thing. Every time dowsing has been tested in a controlled way (using people who are absolutely sure of their ability), it has failed to work any better than chance. People like James Randi have offered large rewards for anyone being able to prove their dowsing ability, but none have been able to claim them. If dowsing actually worked, it would be the easiest thing in the world to prove.

 

The myth about dowsing is so long-lived because many people still incorrectly believe that water runs in "lines" under the ground, which is simply not the case.

As Richard Bach said; "Defend your limitations, and sure enough, you own them.'

While you are trying to convince people with logic that it doesn't work, people are busy using it successfully. It doesn't matter that you don't think it works. 
It's just another one of those things that, right now, can't be proven in the laboratory. Right now. Remember, it's only been a few decades (not centuries,) since Science refused to believe that people could control the autonomic nervous system. Until they did.

18 hours ago, Crossy said:

My uncle John could do it, a couple of bent wire coat hangers in Bic pen pivots and he could certainly find water.

 

I couldn't make it work.

 

Weren't the GT-200 bomb detectors based on a similar effect?

 

The 'it' to which you refer is 'you.'  We 'make' these things work. They have no power of their own.

You didn't believe that it would work, so it didn't. That's one of the 'Laws' of Parapsychology, just as gravity is one of the laws of Physics. You can not violate them.

These have been studied for years a UC-Berkley in California, Duke University in North Carolina, and McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and found to be consistent across the board!  Three major Laws of Parapsychology are Belief, Desire, and Expectancy. Leave out any of the three and, like it or not,  the experiment will be a failure.
The Laws of Parapsychology, being quite different from the Laws of Physics, are now being intensely studied by Quantum Physicists in universities as a set of governing forces. 

29 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

As Richard Bach said; "Defend your limitations, and sure enough, you own them.'

While you are trying to convince people with logic that it doesn't work, people are busy using it successfully. It doesn't matter that you don't think it works. 
It's just another one of those things that, right now, can't be proven in the laboratory. Right now. Remember, it's only been a few decades (not centuries,) since Science refused to believe that people could control the autonomic nervous system. Until they did.

"people are busy using it successfully"

 

Except they're not. It only "works" in anecdotes about uncle Barney or when dowsers find water veins that are actually large aquifers. If dowsing were real, dowsers would have no problem showing results better than chance in controlled tests. It would be the simplest thing in the world to prove.

51 minutes ago, Myran said:

"people are busy using it successfully"

 

Except they're not. It only "works" in anecdotes about uncle Barney or when dowsers find water veins that are actually large aquifers. If dowsing were real, dowsers would have no problem showing results better than chance in controlled tests. It would be the simplest thing in the world to prove.

 

Please feel free to disagree or argue that these tools don't work. That's your prerogative.

Just don't get in the way of those who use them successfully every day.  🙂

29 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

 

Please feel free to disagree or argue that these tools don't work. That's your prerogative.

Just don't get in the way of those who use them successfully every day.  🙂

People are free to believe what they want. I'm not in the habit of "getting in the way of" flat Earthers. But I will certainly respond to all people who make groundless claims that have never been able to stand up to scrutiny.

 

There are certainly things that we aren't able to explain yet, and that doesn't mean that they don't exist or don't work. But for dowsing, it's not a matter of not being able to explain how it works. It simply doesn't work. Many double-blind tests have been carried out, and they never show results that are better than chance.

On 10/8/2025 at 3:50 PM, vibration said:

I use Dowsing very successfully for improving the quality of all areas of my life and for getting information, etc.

For finding water sure, but the rest is just nonsense.

3 minutes ago, brian69 said:

For finding water sure, but the rest is just nonsense.

Serious question…

Why would you believe bent coat hangers can find water, but not find other objects? I’m interested in the thinking behind this. 

1 minute ago, FolkGuitar said:

Serious question…

Why would you believe bent coat hangers can find water, but not find other objects? I’m interested in the thinking behind this. 

Try it walk towards your taps and see what happens, don't grip them tight though. 

19 minutes ago, Myran said:

People are free to believe what they want. I'm not in the habit of "getting in the way of" flat Earthers. But I will certainly respond to all people who make groundless claims that have never been able to stand up to scrutiny.

 

There are certainly things that we aren't able to explain yet, and that doesn't mean that they don't exist or don't work. But for dowsing, it's not a matter of not being able to explain how it works. It simply doesn't work. Many double-blind tests have been carried out, and they never show results that are better than chance.

Can you measure the distance between two points with a marking pen? Or would you use some sort of ruler?

Apply the same here. Basically that is trying to ‘scrutinize’ Quantum Mechanics by applying using the rules of normal Physics. That will never work. 

26 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

Can you measure the distance between two points with a marking pen? Or would you use some sort of ruler?

Apply the same here. Basically that is trying to ‘scrutinize’ Quantum Mechanics by applying using the rules of normal Physics. That will never work. 

 

Mate, that sort of deflecting ain't gonna cut it. I literally spelled it out in the post you're quoting: it's not a matter of science not being able to explain how dowsing works, it's a matter of dowsing not working.

 

Again, if dowsing actually worked, it would be the easiest thing in the world to prove and demonstrate, yet all we have are anecdotes promising it works, and numerous tests where dowsers fail again and again.

4 minutes ago, Myran said:

 

Mate, that sort of deflecting ain't gonna cut it. I literally spelled it out in the post you're quoting: it's not a matter of science not being able to explain how dowsing works, it's a matter of dowsing not working.

 

Again, if dowsing actually worked, it would be the easiest thing in the world to prove and demonstrate, yet all we have are anecdotes promising it works, and numerous tests where dowsers fail again and again.

I’ll repeat what I posted before.

”Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, you own them. 
You believe that because Scientific Method can’t be applied to Parapsychology, that it must be a fake. But Scientific Method is not the only rubric being used today. It has very little application in Quantum Physics. 
Will you try to tell us thats fake too?
 

44 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

I’ll repeat what I posted before.

”Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, you own them. 
You believe that because Scientific Method can’t be applied to Parapsychology, that it must be a fake. But Scientific Method is not the only rubric being used today. It has very little application in Quantum Physics. 
Will you try to tell us thats fake too?
 

Are you simply ignoring what I'm writing, or is it a reading comprehension problem?

 

Dowsers claim that they can find water, metal, etc., but when they are asked to demonstrate this, they completely fail. They only ever succeed when they're talking about it after the fact. It has absolutely nothing to do with the scientific method, and certainly not with quantum physics. We can witness the effects of quantum physics, and are trying to find out the ins and outs of how it works. We have NOT seen dowsing work, so there is absolutely no reason to try to figure it out.

 

Actually showing that it works would be the very first step, but dowsers can't even do that. If they can show that it actually works, that would be the time to use the scientific method to figure out why that is so.

37 minutes ago, Myran said:

Are you simply ignoring what I'm writing, or is it a reading comprehension problem?

It was an interesting debate, right up until you became insulting.

I guess that's what you need to win an argument. Please continue alone.

5 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

It was an interesting debate, right up until you became insulting.

I guess that's what you need to win an argument. Please continue alone.

It's far more insulting to ignore what someone is writing and only respond to what suits you. This "argument" was won before it even started.

 

Show dowsing working, then we can figure out what makes it work. Before that, you're on the same level as flat Earthers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing

I have found 60 year old water pipes at our farm in Norway with metal rods, and I have seen old people when I was young finding water with a tree branch.