Regarding Robert Park's recent newsletter:
http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/ I was amused by Park's conclusion concerning Item #2 "MEMORY: WHY IS IT NECESSARY TO KEEP DEBUNKING THIS STUFF?". Park is referring to: dowsing: In his newsletter Park sez: "Is there no memory? Where I grew up in Texas no one would think of digging a well until the local dowser using a willow fork approved the spot. Since then, dowsing for water has been debunked over and over, most thoroughly by James Randi. But dowsing is now used for everything. Last year, the power company needed to find a buried power cable on our road. I watched the lineman reach under the seat of his truck, pull out a stiff wire bent in the shape of a fork, and start dousing for the cable. If it works for everything, there is no physical cause and it's not science." * * * The question Park doesn't seem to answer is whether the lineman actually found the buried cable, and by what procedure did he locate the cable by? (Presumably, the lineman eventually found what he was looking for.) I find myself wondering: Didn't the lineman have a standard issue metal detector that he could have used? Surely such equipment would be standard issue for all linemen who must determine the location of buried cable. I got the impression that this particular lineman seemed to have preferred the use of his favorite "dowsing" tool instead of using a standard issue metal detector. I find it curious that Park seemed to have sidestepped what appeared to have been the lineman's preference to use a dowsing tool. Instead, Park evokes the "...it's not science" mantra... as if that explains everything! Actually the entire sentence was: "If it [dowsing] works for everything, there is no physical cause and it's not science." This is a far more revealing sentence for what it implies indirectly. Considering the recent article on the "nocebo" effect (complements of Harry Veeder), as well as the famous placebo effect ...and I think we are getting closer to the crux of Park's nightmare: Occasionally, we are presented with "phenomenon" that seems to have no apparent physical explanation. Maybe dowsing works... maybe it doesn't. I really don't know. Meanwhile, we do know that the placebo effect occasionally works with no apparent "scientific" explanation. The fact that Park lamented, "...dowsing is now used for everything." seems so baffling to me that such a science-fearing man should feel so bothered having to make such an admission. It's as if the act of "dowsing" for a buried cable was such galling affront to the way Park believes the universe is constructed that his personal interpretation of "science" was in danger of being contaminated, or at least disproven... maybe by just a teeny tiny little bit. What a house of cards that might reveal! I wonder... does Science really need self-appointed spokes person constantly defending its honor? Regards Steven Vincent Johnson www.OrionWorks.com www.zazzle.com/orionworks
