From questionable body scanners to bomb detectors. This is a good example of where lack of critical thinking is not just a laughing matter, but also can have fatal consequences.
Anyone with even a cursory familiarity with the purveyors of pseudoscience will immediately recognise this device as a posh dowsing rod. Throughout history there have always been charlatans producing bogus inventions which they can sell at a premium to the gullible, so the main fault here is lack of proper evaluation by whatever government agency procured these devices. In this case sniffer dogs would have done a much superior job, would have saved lives, and would probably have been considerably cheaper too. It also demonstrates the usefulness of negative knowledge - knowing what isn't likely to work in addition to knowing what is. Those who lack negative knowledge are open to being easily misled, and in the business of inventing things you could say that most of the knowledge acquired is of the negative variety.
For some independent testing of the validity of dowsing see the following:
But it's not just water or bomb (or elephant) detectors that you need to be wary of. Are all of those pills which Ray Kurzweil is claimed to swallow each day really based on good medical science? Hopefully they are, but historically medicine is an area where charlatanry has traditionally made a lot of money out of people who are uninformed, desperate or who merely want to believe the confidence trickster's scientific-sounding sales pitch.
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My understanding is that combinations of pills typically have no effect on human lifespan - over and above that provided by a reasonable level of nutrition that avoids deficiencies. About the only thing *is* currently thought to have some effect on lifespan is dietary energy restriction.
However, sometimes pills have toxic effects and can reduce lifespan. The more pills you take, the more likely that would seem. Ray is selling supplements - so he has to take them - but I don't think it makes much sense to do so.
The empirical evidence, like the RAND Corporation's health insurance experiment back in the 1970's, suggests that at least a third, if not more, of the health care (measured in dollars) Americans consume doesn't do any good. If Ray Kurzweil just consumed the few medications that a regular physician would prescribe for him -- probably ones for elevated cholesterol, glucose resistance, hypertension, low thyroid and other elderly health issues -- not only would he save a pile of money, but he would also stay about as healthy.
Why would the government *ban* exports? Does this device tarnish Britain's reputation somehow?
I'd say it does, although presumably the manufacturer would contend otherwise.
If this was just a toy for backyard dowsers and its use had no real consequences then there would be no particular reason to have it banned. But in this case people may well have been killed as a consequence of this device being used in place of more proven methods.
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