Skeptilab - The Pseudoscience of Dowsing with Andy Richter

[@velosucker9915]

I’m a plumber, currently running a water main and sewer main for a client. Had a gentleman from the water company use dowsing rods to locate existing pipes for us to connect to. He located 5 pipes, we dug the whole area up and found 0 pipes, the services were on a completely other side of the property. 😅

[@n0isyturtle]

I saw the thumbnail and was like "That guy looks exactly like Andy Richter" and it was!

[@puckhockey4733]

It's difficult for me to argue this, but I've "dowsed" for water lines before, and it worked well. I used the two parallel metal rods (welding rods) and helped my neighbor map out the pipes in his front yard. FYI when the rods crossed, if I *backed up* they would begin to uncross. They also would cross under power lines, and over underground pipes that *don't* have water in them. Obviously when you want to find a specific pipeline in a whole yard you will want to do it in a grid fashion to get a complete "map" so you can tell where the pipe you're looking for leads to, and not confuse it with other things. I'm a pretty big skeptic generally speaking, and I consider myself a realist, but after doing it myself, I have to sit on the side of the dowsers at least to some extent. I wish more serious inquiries and controlled experiments were done, rather than these "Amazing Randini" style refutations.

[@spec24]

" wish more serious inquiries and controlled experiments were done, rather than these "Amazing Randini" style refutations." They were. Your ignorance of them is no one's fault but your own. Not sure what is wrong with this "Amazing Randini" (I guess when your magic fails you start with veiled insults) style refutation. You can either find water with these stupid things or you can't. Now go, little brainiac, and claim you 1/2 millions from these guys, and the millions from JREF. I won't be holding my breath.

[@PrinceVegetaBrief]

@@spec24 CFI shill. You're probably James Underdown behind the screen

[@DaleSteel]

These punks don't understand the water needs to be flowing. The flowing water generates small amount electricity and attracts the rods. Pretty simple stuff. Finding a bottle of water won't cut it.

[@IAmAlteringTheDeal]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@DaleSteel Buddy literally 20 seconds of googling and you’d realize you’re wrong. You think the USGS, NGWA and every geologist are lying? Big water is out to getcha!!!

[@maurus331]

​@@DaleSteel, interesting ..and somehow, i thought of that aspect too☝️ so source must "flowing"

[@StephenMelody]

Jim, I am a professional dowser (called a diviner in Australia). Over my 40 years of seeking water for land holders in a very dry continent, I have only ever got one call wrong where the hole produced mud and no liquid water ( I did warn the landholder that this was a very high risk drill.) I would be very happy to take you up on your half a million dollar challenge but in very different circumstances from the test you set up in this video. A water diviner mostly finds underground water in cracks in rocks that form a continuous underground stream rarely more than 2 feet wide. The water in these steams originally comes from surface water deposits like lakes, rivers, creeks and dams, or from aquifers where surface water have seeped down through porous layers, but is finally trapped by an impervious layer, thus forming an underground lake. Sometimes, the diviner simply gets the driller to drill directly into the aquifer. The key thing here is that diviners find underground water in its natural state. This is what they are used to doing. Therefore, any skeptic who wants to debunk dowsing needs to design an experiment that involves the dowser finding underground water in its natural state. Your experiment did not do this, and furthermore, your subject was not really a dowser. So you cannot extrapolate the results of your experiment to the real world situation. The geologist's explanation of why dowsers do find water is completely unproven. Yes, there are places where you can find water no matter where you put down the hole because you have landed on an aquifer. However, aquifers are few and far between and they only make up a tiny fraction of the land surface. For your geologists claim to be supported by facts, the whole surface of a country would have to be drilled on a 1 yard grid. As I am sure this has not happened, your geologists claim is purely speculation. Over the years, I have honed my divining skills to be able to predict the location of an underground stream or aquifer, the width of the structure involved, if the stream contains any water, where the water stops in the stream, the height of the fracture in the rock carrying water, the depth to the bottom of the stream, the salinity of the water in ppm, and the total dissolved solids(TDS) content in ppm. I am rarely wrong on any of these measures by more than 10%. If you were to multiply the probably of me getting all those features correct to within 10%, the probably would be 1: an extremely large number. Yet, I get these same results week after week. There would not be a mathematician on earth who would be game to say that I find underground water by chance. Jim, I am very disappointed that you have presented this video to the public as fact when it is far from fact. Maybe if you followed me around in the field for a few days, you might take a fairer view of the important work a dowser does to help provide water security for a landholder.

[@CowboyPants-h5p]

No response from Jim so I guess he is afraid you will make him look bad!

[@StephenMelody]

Thanks for the thumbs up Cowboy Pants. It is really refreshing to see that people actually read the comments written by viewers. No, there has been no response from Jim and for the time being, his half a million dollars is safe. It is never my intention to make anyone look bad, but when I see a presenter present material to the public that is not factual, I call them out. To date, no valid scientific study into the effectiveness of dowsing has been conducted and published. All the so-called scientific experiments (like the one in this video) that have been done on dowsing have been based on models of the dowsing situation, not done in a field setting. The poor dowsers never stand a chance of proving their true skill. Maybe one day, the skeptics will wake up and do a valid experiment to prove or disprove that dowsing is real. Regards. SM.

[@IAmAlteringTheDeal]

You are a scam artist huh?

[@maurus331]

Hi, have you ever considered to check (or you already know) how's your aura state? how many chakras do you have opened? ..asking because *im presuming that the ability its self have somrthing to do with how many/and how opened are chakra's of dowser.

[@PrinceVegetaBrief]

@@CowboyPants-h5p Look. Jimmy Underdown is a chicken who hides behind deleting comments, twisting words, and coming up with nonsensical counterarguments. That's a fact and that's coming from a hardcore skeptic. I know people who have had dealings with him and he's a total sophist. Pure psychological swindler.

[@evilmeerkat007]

Thames water until very recently supplied their workmen with dowsing rods to find water pipes. I saw them in the street myself. There are also newspaper articles from 10 years ago when people complained about the "psudoscience" and to my knowledge forced them to stop using them.

[@TheBethRoszman]

Keep in mind science is based on creating a theory then applying a specific and replicable methodology along with exact processes producing measurements to either prove or disprove your theory. I love that science is your go-to yet I didn't see scientific theory applied to your humorous sketch on dowsing.

[@jdoodle7168]

When smart arses don't understand something, they dismiss it. Typical.

[@maurus331]

no. they dont know understand the "broader" aspect of phenomena, and thus dont evaulvate it correctly.

[@TheRealSpencerMarks]

Well, if you have information or proof that it works, shouldn’t you apply for the $500,000 prize and prove them wrong? GO FOR IT!!!

[@TheBethRoszman]

Thank you for using your platform to introduce people to the ancient science of dowsing,

[@robpalmer1387]

Hmmmm. I am confused. This test clearly makes sense with people claiming the ability. Has Andy claimed to be able to do this? Also, the test subject should first show it “working” for them with uncovered test items.

[@sleepersciscience-magicfin7098]

The randomise studies, tests, for people who claimed these ability, was many times created with conclusion that they don't have any ability. You can proof your ability and win millions of dolars in the skeptic challenge. No one did proof his ability.

[@robpalmer1387]

@@sleepersciscience-magicfin7098 I am in no way affirming or implying these abilities exist. My comment was only about the IMHO problematic way the lack of this “ability” was demonstrated in this episode... by supposedly testing someone who never claimed to have such an ability.

[@annk.8750]

Mythbusters once did it with people who claimed to have the ability. Nada.

[@spec24]

Tell us you're clueless without telling us you're clueless.

[@kraknjaws3882]

So cool that the great andy richter could be pulled away from harassing school girls to tell us about this

[@rainbowboa100]

i been diong this since i was about 10, it's never failed me yet! i even located a pipe that had already been located by the city. they were only about 10 ft off! i even got the lady who owned it, to do it! (kinda freaked her out when the rods moved!)

[@Socal_Geo1]

Great video!! Love it, very interesting ideas really.

[@Subfightr]

Whaaaat?! Andy is with CFI?! This is awesome!

[@logan666]

This is awesome! We need more no-nonsense explanations of things like dowsing rods for the general public.

[@marcus1st409]

I've dowsed for water and it worked every time so far.

[@TheRealSpencerMarks]

Then apply for the $500,000 prize! It should be easy!

[@backyardlures4767]

I thought this technique was to help find voids in the ground not under cups

[@messierthirtyone777]

The ultimate test is leave the "expert" in the middle of the desert with dowsing rods, digging equipment and no water and then ask him/her to find water to survive. Those rods better swing 🤣

[@noahunderwood5858]

we use it a work all the time looking for water and sewer lines and it works

[@TheRealSpencerMarks]

Then you should apply for the $500,000 prize! Unless you don’t need the money… (but you could donate it to kids with cancer!)

[@avery_atleast]

I always liked Andy. I’m glad he does this work with CFI.

[@BNK2442]

The coolest thing Richter did was shuting up goldblum when the latter tried to defend circumcision.

[@richardb8104]

What episode of Conan was that?

[@centaur7607]

Another great video! Loved to see Andy Richter working with CFI!

[@ShawnaPsy.D]

Those are used for seeing ...........and everytime you will find one open.

[@christianvandermaas8932]

😂 Lol .. I’m a +30 year Neuroscientist… hope you got your cheque book. I get it with your idiomotor effect, but do you understand what it really is 😂😂

[@kosztaz87]

Yes they have their cheque book, question is why haven't YOU applied to win the prize yet?

[@Suesco]

theres a pipe under the road under the ESP cards.

[@sarahfranciskeough]

Does anybody even care about this series? 1.5K views and only 127 likes? Abysmal!! Only 8 percent of viewers

[@da8675]

So technically, there was water under wherever Andy Richter's dowsers crossed. They just needed to drill down deeper. Andy was robbed.

[@gerrys6265]

I hope this is a comedy show...it certainly doesn't have any credibility as a debunk show.!

[@CRWenger]

I have seen for myself the Water Department of the City of Sandusky, Ohio use dowsing rods to locate city water lines. I'm not saying it works, they're saying it works?🤷‍♂️

[@dompan9169]

I highly doubt they rely on dowsing rods, because if they did, there would be holes everywhere.

[@richardb8104]

@@dompan9169 No, you have it backwards. They use the dowsing rods to *avoid* putting holes everywhere. ATT used to give their installers a set of dowsing rods as well. This helped them find underground lines.

[@TheBethRoszman]

I know dowsers easily netting $110K+ as independent contractors for globally recognized companies so something must be working. Its interesting to observe resistance to the specific and measured approach of measuring electromagnetism of water, minerals and the human body.

[@CRWenger]

@@TheBethRoszman I certainly make no claims as to how it works or even if it does work. I just know I've seen it used in the field.

[@annk.8750]

It isn't "ideomotor" movement. The long arm on the rod gives enough weight that it swings around wildly when the rod is held even the slightest bit off vertical.

[@spec24]

Yes it is. The arm doesn't swing randomly, you dunce. That ideomotor movement can be anything: leaning forwards, leaning backwards, the wrist dipping down or up.

[@PrinceVegetaBrief]

@@spec24 You're completely wrong. Why even support this transphobic organization?

[@Bundysvideos]

Umm wildly? No, they align with the pipe. Please go test this, you just need 2 metal rods, coat hangers work 👌

[@TheRealSpencerMarks]

@@BundysvideosIf it works, then apply for the $500,000 prize! Why is it all these people claim it works, yet no one wants $500,000? Go win it and give it to kids with cancer!

[@Bundysvideos]

@@TheRealSpencerMarks you mean with James Randi? First off the test he performed, which was a number of covered buckets and some with water, and they were asked to find the water… yah my argument is that the rods are effected by the emf field that utility pipes carry. My version of how they work at finding UNDERGROUND UTILITIES ONLY, has no mechanism where it would detect water lol so yah, his water bucket test clearly wouldn’t work lol but I can demonstrate it over and over and over again any day of the week at any home lol so something is happening…. The only scientific explanation is EMF, and it’s effecting the rods the same way a compass needle is effected when put near metal, it goes wonky and doesn’t point north any more.

[@alexj9111]

My dad used to work for a water company back in the 70s, and he had to use copper dowsing rods to locate ruptered water pipes. It worked on his first attempt even though he didn't believe in it. Maybe there are mysterious forces that lie beyond the visible spectrum, and some people are sensitive to them?

[@invaderhorizongreen8168]

That is coincidence it proves nothing but they got lucky. also so someone who works with said pipes would have a better idea of where they would be laid down during the building process, and a water leakage during a drought would make grass grow where it would otherwise be dead. NOT MAGIC

[@spec24]

Yes, just like some people will believe any bulls*** their father tells them.

[@pagamenews]

I was a boy in the 1970s and a man from the water authority showed me how to do this using two copper wires. Yep. It works.

[@LaraCross-lz2bv]

Nice to see what the Swedish German has been up to.

[@ShawnaPsy.D]

COME DEBUNK ME. I DARE YOU.

[@forkittens]

imagine trying to prove the earth is round but a flat earther gets to set up the experiment. it too would end up debunking round earth. dowsing doesn't work, but this isn't a serious way to prove that.

[@TheBethRoszman]

How do you know for certain dowsing doesn't work? Have you tested to ensure you and the item being dowsed is 100% clear to give and receive accurate, truthful and reliable information? Have you logged the procedures and outcomes of your dowsing experiments? Dowsing indeed sometimes can yield inaccurate results and by recording your methodologies and outcomes we may take a deeper analysis of your theory.

[@forkittens]

@@TheBethRoszman everything i reply to you get auto deleted by yt

[@luprsil]

here after la chimera

[@PartyCrewCoolPAD]

Greetings and Salutations High-quality recipe for a book on "#dowsing" and "how to development" That was just text to my smartphone #MENTALIST I graduated in 2012 for #pharmacytechnician 💪

[@mehdirahimi4948]

Amazing show ❤

[@rameyzamora1018]

Nope. I still think there's a disturbance in the field that certain people are sensitive to...we just don't have the measuring tool(s) to detect that disturbance. Yet.

[@infinitemonkey917]

We do. It's called ground penetrating radar.

[@buddahluvaz8]

Look forward to reading your research, Doctor!

[@nightjarflying]

"the field" LOL

[@annk.8750]

Neither do the ones who "think" they're sensitive.

[@spec24]

How much data that shows that there is no phenomenon going on do you people need? There is literally mountains of it.

[@clownbasher2911]

Lol Andy!