Comments on: Patrick Holford and The Whole Health Dowsing Kit

By: apgaylard

apgaylard — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:32:44 +0000

dvnutrix: could well be; then all someone is dowsing is their own level of general anxiety. By the same token all health dowsing advocates are doing is exploiting a media-driven anxiety to bolster their own (relative) fame and fortune.

By: dvnutrix

dvnutrix — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:39:24 +0000

apgaylard, is there an argument for saying that if you have been exposed to a lot of news stories that convince you that you have a deficient diet or lots of allergies, then if you ask yourself those questions, the ideomotor effect is liable to influence your response?

Am I allergic to wheat?
Am I allergic to dairy?
Am I allergic to nuts?
Am I allergic to eggs?

Yes to each of the 4? Who would have anticipated that?

Do I need supplemental vitamin C?
Do I need supplemental glutamine?

Do I need to get out more in the fresh air and stop reading the Daily Mail?

By: apgaylard

apgaylard — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 16:46:54 +0000

dvnutrix: The drunks and lamp post simile is a bit of an anachronism; you're probably too young. I notice that the credulous blurb endorses the practise of dowsing generally. Unsurprisingly it's a masterful demonstration of self-refutation: Don't ask about something you don't know - like your vitamin/nutrient status! The pendulum swings without the conscious movement of the use: of course it does, that's why dowsing is nothing more than self-delusion via the ideomotor effect.

By: dvnutrix

dvnutrix — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 09:02:18 +0000

Like the proverbial drunk leaning against a lamp post:seeking support rather than illumination.

I have lived a sheltered life because I have never seen that observation before but shall now use it whenever I can.

The birds of a feather stuff does say something interesting (I’m not entirely sure what) about a certain sort of mindset.

By: jonhw

jonhw — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:07:22 +0000

allhealth- I’ve edited your comment to remove the link. No commercial links please – and, at any rate, I suspect that this site’s readers may not be the ideal target market for your spirulina…

By: allhealth

allhealth — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:30:57 +0000

Patrick Holford may have his critics, but he is a great advocate of Organic Spirulina, so he can’t be all bad!

By: apgaylard

apgaylard — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:13:09 +0000

How a so-called academic can get away with this nonsense is amazing. That an alledgedly respectable academic institution can put up with this rubbish is depressing. It’s just magical thinking.

It is, however, interesting how ‘birds of a feather flock together’: dowsing+homeopathy; acupuncture+homeopathy etc. Like the proverbial drunk leaning against a lamp post:seeking support rather than illumination.