For Matt and Ian

[genericcow]

Regarding the show Ghost Hunters (and TAPS in general):

I'm bored at work like usual, so I figured I'd follow up on our conversation about Ghost Hunters, and try to consolidate a lot of the stuff that I've come across that kills most or all the credibility TAPS has

Comments

Re: 3

[genericcow]

"I never thought the K2 meters were a good idea, and I’m betting they didn’t either, as I only remember seeing them use it once."

They used it at least 4 times that I watched in the 3rd season. I don't think I watched any season 4 episode snippets. But really, using it once is enough to make the point, for the same reason as using dowsing once was enough.

"Still, as I said, the best you can really do with Ghosts and how they manifest is theorize, until solid evidence is presented..."

and

"The theory comes from a phenomenon where lights will go out and batteries in electronics will be suddenly drained, and the theory is that the spirit needs to gather energy in order to manifest itself. Same theory with cold spots. Again, it’s acknowledged as just a theory."

You're making a very common mistake about the nature of a theory. The definition of a Theory as it pertains to science is "A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena." It is not just a guess, as most normal people take it as. It's pretty much a model that has been proven to work well enough that it can be used to make predictions about other hypotheses. It's not the same as "Well, I'm thinking if we do this, we get this. Let's see if I'm right."

What you should say is "the best you can do with Ghosts and how they manifest is guess, until solid evidence is presented, and a proven theory can be formed" which is not what Ghost Hunters do. They're already assuming that spirits cause EMF fluctuations, and basing a large part of their investigation on that presupposition. They're working from an assumption that spirits and ghosts exist in the first place, which is a dangerously baseless assumption to stand on when trying to perform a rigorously scientific investigation.

Assumption is the mother of all foul-ups. Especially in science.