science of scams

[hwyaden]

scienceofscams.com/
not sure if this has been posted before. I haven't watched it yet - I'm waiting until all the kids have gone so I can actually hear it!!
;D

[fluffet]

www.scienceofscams.com/are-you-a-believer.php

They have a little test for people to do to gauge how much they take things at face value or not.

Had a quick look through the site and there are some good little vids on there that serve as a gentle introduction to people who may not previously have considered a more rational and skeptical process when looking at things.

It looks like they have set out on a project on youtube to post 7 vids of different paranormal claims to see the public reaction to them etc then they will unveil each one and explain how it was done and what techiniques were used.

We have released 7 hoax videos which appear to demonstrate paranormal phenomena. In fact they're all based upon real scientific principles. Over the past few months this hoax footage has been posted all over the internet in an attempt to find out if people would either accept it as genuine or question it in an attempt to discover the real truth.

Not sure how it will change the perception of those who chose to believe the vids as real as its unlikely they will go back and check them again or find thier way necessarily to this site for the revelations , perhaps they have linked the vids to the site in the hope that that is what happens.
Im wondering how they will approach the follow through with the vids ...or guage the reactions they wanted to get from the public .
Interesting approach though and with Derrens name attached it should attract some attention .

[bujin]

The first video was fine - a nice demonstration of a scientific prinicple.

The one on ghosts was pretty poor though. It's an interesting look at an old film technique, but it does not explain ghost sightings at all! It shows how a ghost film might be faked, but it doesn't show why people think they see ghosts in general - I can pretty much guarantee that for every "paranormal investigation" I have attended, no-one has gone to the trouble of setting up a special room like that!

The brick-breaking one wasn't too bad though. Again, at least it demonstrated some science.