> Several things that Mr. Carl does while dowsing don't fit into many of the definitions that have been proposed.
Everyone who believes in it agrees it works, but not how it works? That's a classic sign of witchcraft.
> There are many aspects of dowsing that were not addressed by this experiment and these results do not apply to them. Additionally, many people claim to have a dowsing sense but are not reputable. Beware of anyone who wields this work as proof of their skill. As in any scientific experiment, repeatability, under the scrutiny of the scientific community, is the determinant of valid results. Unless this validation occurs, these findings will remain experimental data.
In other words, do not take this paper as proof of dousing and do not trust someone who links to this PDF to prove dousing is real.
...
Here's the thing, nobody is here saying you didn't go out into the desert and find water. (Although, you're a random comment on the internet, so I'm not particularly inclined to believe a word of it either.) It's just that "dousing" isn't a likely explanation for how( you found water.
At the very best, "dousing" as a name can be equated to "dark matter" - something is happening, but we know virtually nothing about what is happening or how. Explanations that rely on the type of wood used, or claim to be able to find oil* and lead in addition to water, just don't make sense. With dark matter, yes we're exploring as many explanations as we can, but most scientists agree that the more complicated solutions (such as "gravity works differently at very large scales") are less likely. And they still have a mechanism.
No, its a sign of incomplete scientific investigations. Or are you going to tell me everyone knows how SRRI's work, to take the most overt example of incomplete sciencey/witchcraft?
(We don't know how they work, just that they do work, so hey .. ship the pills, witches ..)
I would make the statement that the science hasn't been "good enough" yet, since it doesn't explain the efficacy of the technique that I have personally observed over years of trips out into the desert.
And I stand by the point that on this subject, it is fair to say that Wikipedia is junk, since studies demonstrating the effectiveness of dowsing (whatever the reason behind why it works when it does) don't make it into the Wikipedia article due to the biases of the editors involved in curating the article on the subject.
The editors of Wikipedia seem to be effected by some subconscious desire for dowsing to not work, so therefore the articles only highlight studies that "demonstrate dowsing doesn't work", rejecting as pseudo-science or "faulty science" anything which counters that subconscious prejudice.
People who don't want dowsing to work, will find that it doesn't work - those who do, will find water.
Here, for example, is a study which demonstrates that there is something to dowsing, after all ..
https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA284789.pdf
Maybe this study is just junk science, in your opinion, since it runs counter to the collective-derived assertion that dowsing is "just junk pseudo-science"?
In which case, be sure to understand that whatever criticism you have of the study, my experience with finding water through dowsing, actively over decades of experience, leads me to be less inclined to care about scientific studies, when a) there is thirst to quench, and b) I can effectively find water almost every single time I need to, with dowsing.
You cannot survive in the desert just because you read a "scientifically-sound white paper" somewhere. Sometimes, you have to leap beyond prejudice and just eat the damned spider.
An interesting conclusion:
https://www-sop.inria.fr/agos/sis/dowsing/dowsdean.html
"Water divining survives today because its practical utility does not place too great a strain on pragmatism. Dowsing results will ultimately be validated by their accuracy and practical value rather than theories and opinions."
Whether it works because of subconscious awareness on the part of the dowser, or due to some unknown forces of nature, either way: studies have concluded that you can indeed find water with dowsing techniques.
Perhaps there is more to human perception than our conscious/sub-conscious scientific divide allows us to observe: "It won't work if you don't want it to."