The Great Magic Water Conference November 16, 2007
Posted by Graham in : Environment, General, Science and Rationaltiy, water , trackbackAnatomy of a Scam
A few years ago I attended an extraordinary event in Co. Monaghan which I still refer to as “The great magic Water Conference”. Organised by local environmentalists to promote the “discoveries” of an outfit called Perfect Science, it drew together an extraordinary mix of council water engineers, environmentalists and water diviners, pendulum swingers and other purveyors of New Age religion.
I wont reveal the names of those involved in setting up the conference; some of them are old friends I havn’t seen for a while. Ill refer to the main organiser as “John”- not his real name. John had managed to gain the support of the County Council who opened the event and reputedly put up money to pay for it.
Perfect Science
The Perfect Science crew claimed to have a (proprietorial) product of “super-ionized” water which, in its various preparations, had the ability to cleanse the most polluted body of water- a lake, river or well, for example- simply by the addition of a few drops of the Perfect Science mix. Even water polluted by PCBs and heavy metals, it was claimed, could be purified by this solution and the team claimed that within five years (this was 10 years ago) “all the polluted water in the world would be purified”.
Here is an extract from the “Perfect Science” website explaining their ground-breaking and earth-shattering discoveries which have enabled them to overturn the Laws of Physics:
http://www.perfectscience.net/
We consider the Perfect Science Energetic formula to be the best aligned to the Planet and the living beings. This consideration is also supported by the pool of data obtained by Aquatron device by which patients are tested for the different medicaments available. It is only the modern science that recognized the reality as the web of self-consistent interactions in multi-dimensional space-time in which time and interactions are generically non-linear. This means that the reality we live is what we have created, and that we as humans (and that is valid for all entities that exist in the universe) are the result of mutual interactions. So to change the world in which we live we have first to cleanse our physical and energy bodies, in order that we will be able to help in cleaning the Planet and all what exist on it and was created during long painful history of the human fall, and align it with the New world
The brains behind Perfect Science, we were told, was Ayhan Doyuk from Turkey.
Doyuk was presented as a kind of maverick genius who had unlocked the secrets of the universe and discovered the preparations that were being demonstrated: in a show that could have come straight out of the 19th Century snake-oil salesman, Doyuk took a fish-tank of dirty polluted water which came from a nearby lake which had been polluted in the past by a tannery,added a few drops of Perfect Science water, and within half-an-hour, hey presto! the water had clarified.
Now, Im no scientist, but it did occur to me that there may be a number of substances that would have the effect of clarifying dirty water by making the particles settle out. I seemed to remember some such experiment I had done with a chemistry set as a child.
“One grade below Holy Water”
Meanwhile various people in the audience were passing round a sample and waving pendulums over it. Conferring with each other, there was a general consensus: the Perfect Science water was “just one grade below the spiritual power of holy water”. Well that didn’t seem very impressive- I mean, you can get Holy water freely from any Holy well, can’t you?
The water engineers from Dublin and surrounding areas were not impressed. At coffee break I chatted to one of them: what are you guys doing here? Well, she said, the water pollution situation in Dublin is terrible. We just don’t know what to do about it. We’ll try anything.
None of them stayed for the afternoon session, however, which consisted of some fairly unimpressive slideshows about the work of Perfect Science around the world, delivered by two decidedly creepy older Americans in suits (yes Im betraying my prejudices here) who name-dropped this UN conference and that UN conference; “we’re working with the Turkish government…with the Koreans…the Chinese…”
The atmosphere at the place where many of us were staying for the conference was electric, with all sorts of rumors flying around and many polarised factions amongst those assembled- some believed it to be a scam, others convinced it was genuine, many unsure but still willing to give the benefit of the doubt less some genuinely planet-saving discovery might be thrown down the drain and the chance missed.
At one point, with dozens of people gathered around a huge bonfire outside, an intense debate ensued with one individual passionately urging John to denounce Perfect Science as con merchants, lest his reputation be destroyed, while John, for his part, argued just as passionately that he was convinced that the Perfect Science formula was genuine.
When well-known environmental scientist arrived I was keen to hear his professional opinion, I asked him what he thought. Carefully, in measured and sober words, he declared: “I think it is 99% sure that Perfect Science are really onto something; and only 1% chance of a scam”.
But when I suggested to him that there may be many commonly available chemicals that would settle out particles in murky water, his mouth dropped and he covered his face in his hands -”How could I have missed that?”
“Throw away your rational minds!”
The next day, awkward questions were asked. Someone had been onto the UN and the Turkish government and discovered there was no official programme in Turkey to unroll the Perfect Science water purifying scheme across the country, as had been claimed; there was no record of them having attended the UN conferences mentioned. Red faces on the stage but protests from the floor as, to my astonishment, a woman stood up and turned to the audience imploring them “not to ask these questions: what Perfect Science us is offering is a new paradigm. In order to understand it we must throw away our rational minds!”
In debates amongst other skeptics present there was one unsolved issue: what was the motive? Where was the money? Perfect Science were not being paid for their attendance- so what was in it for them?
The answer came from a local farmer who had been chauffeuring around the team during the weekend. He reported that two finely-dressed Belgian women who appeared at the conference on the Sunday had met with members of perfect Science in their hotel. He claimed to have seen a cheque being passed from them, presumably to purchase some of the large array of body-care products Perfect Science were marketing under their name- body lotion, massage water, various soaps and oils, all with the Perfect Science label. Impressed by the conference itself- and perhaps especially by the apparent support by the County Council- the Belgians had been keen to do business.
By Sunday afternoon the cracks had started to show. As the perfect Science team prepared to leave, they were accosted by a few of us and charged with pedaling a fraudulent product. The water that had been clarified in the earlier demonstration had in fact been sent to the Environmental Protection Agency for analysis- when the results came back, the water was shown to be more, not less polluted (because of the chemical which had been added). Perfect Science were rushing off to catch a flight- content with the weekend’s business and armed now with a film of the conference in Co. Monaghan, Ireland showing how they are working at official council level here, they were keen to head off for the next scam. Their lawyer was pushed forward to explain: “You don’t have full spectrum analysis in this country. In the States, the tests would show the benefits of the Perfect Science formula”.
Culture of Belief
For me the whole weekend was an opportunity to witness a professional international scam close up, but the real lesson was more psychological and sociological: why do people believe what they believe? Why is sections of the environmental movement so susceptible to being taken advantage of in this way? Why is there such a willingness to “throw away the rational mind” which leads to such naivety? And how many more cynical outfits like Perfect Science are there out there plotting the next scam aimed deliberately at the only- too- willing-to-believe New Age faithful?
Im not suggesting that all such irrational beliefs are exploited cynically, just that the environmental movement is especially open to scams like this. We dont seem to have the thinking tools- the skills and training necessary to sort out the wheat from the chaff, to think critically and openly about things and then come to reasoned conclusions.
This kind of scam preys upon our sensibilities: we don’t like to be the one claiming to be “right” because it sounds superior and arrogant. (Im well used to this accusation myself). Our desire for some kind of miraculous breakthrough to solve the seemingly intractable problems of a world on the brink can lead to an abandonment of reason. And we can have an understandable suspicion of science which gets blamed for a lot of the destruction in the world.
In a world on the brink of disaster, fueled by climate change deniers, techno-fantasists, and corrupt politicians, I think this is a cause of great concern to environmentalists everywhere.
I have just this lunch-time while in the middle of writing this been involved in a debate with two people I know well about the validity of astrology. My claims that there is no scientific evidence to support astrology were countered by saying that science is not reliable anyway, that the researcher will likely find what they want to find, that just because the studies cant prove an effect does not mean it isn’t there, and so on.
I insisted on consistency of argument and asked their views on climate change and other “scientifically” established causes of the environmental movement. Quite happy to be consistent, they agreed that in fact there is no way of being sure of anything, that all beliefs (I used racism as another example) are equally valid (or invalid) and no-one actually knows anything.
The dangers of this way of thinking should not be underestimated, and although astrology for example might be seen as “harmless” the same method of justification for other beliefs would be disasterous.
For some time long after the event I would occasionally meet people who had been there who would tell me, “Well, we still don’t know for sure that there wasn’t something in it.” Just like we don’t know for sure that we wont find a huge new store of fossil fuel under the melting arctic that will save our consumer society; just like we don’t know for sure the climate is warming up and we are the main cause; just like we don’t know for sure that the industrial growth society is unsustainable.
What the environmental movement needs more than anything else right now is critical thinking. We do not need New Age religion or any other kind of superstitious belief; but we cannot afford to throw out scientific inquiry.
Comments»
This is an iteration of your previously stated contempt for the non-scientific Graham and in most respects I am inclined to concur with that assessment. However, it is unfortunate or, should that be inevitable, that we should find you re-gurgitating the sorry and openly backward theories of one Thomas Malthus in your previous contribution with regards to Population.
Malthus was a rabid conservative, English parson of the worst order, who sought to blame the ills of society which were and are the result of an economic system that exploits not only resources but human beings to the nth degree. None other than Karl Marx nailed him for what he was “an apologist for Capitalism”. Karl Marx and his stalwart colleague and fellow revolutionary Friedrich Engels have demolished the theories of Malthus until they are as nothing and can be read at no charge at http://www.marxists.org. Even accounting for any disagreements you may have with the political or economic theories of Marx it will be shown that in terms of Scientific enquiry on such questions as population and even on many questions concerning ecology - see http://www.monthlyreview.org/marxecol.htm - Marx and Engels making use of the dialectical Materialist philosophical tools that they developed were and are still without peer on all of the important Material questions both as Scientists and as Activists for change.
I repeat here that which I also wrote on Rob’s site that Peak oil is an effect of Capitalism and not the cause. Until that fundamental is addressed any innovations or solutions will be unable to be adopted as mainstream practise in this society or anywhere else for that matter.
You dont really give us much to go on, Mick- what did Marx have to say about Peak Oil? He was writing in a time when the world’s population was not much over a billion and long before the Green Revolution.
Maybe if you could actually give us a Marxist analysis of energy and population and make some recommendations for public policy and private action it would be more useful- your rather archaic phrasing without any substance does rather sound a little “cultish” in itself. It really doesnt matter what Marx thought of Malthus; the question is, was Malthus’ basic theory valid or not?
Hmm, very enlightening.
Like you, Graham, I’m constantly having my teeth put on edge by the scams perpetrated on well-meaning, uninformed permaculture sympathisers. Activated water? Copper garden forks? Flowforms? I mean, please.
How about a “Skeptical Permaculture” website/magazine?
It seems very clear me that we (Homo Detritus) stand very little chance of surviving the converging catastrophes of the 21st century. Two hundred years ago a new species of human began to emerge, Homo Colossus, to quote “Catton” for the past one hundred yet another species has begun to appear, Homo Detritus, so named because he learned to live on dead organic matter. Peak oil will remove his food supply and the waste products of his biotic processes threaten to so alter his habitat as to render it unsuitable for him and his less evolved predecessors. It has been suggested that our particular kind of smart ape is just not smart enough to find its way out of our predicament, but I do not accept this, we do not lack the ability, our real handicap is our infected minds. The vast majority of us are infected with various beliefs or delusions, whether they be sky gods (all organised religions) capitalism, communism or consumerism they all have the same effect, they rob us of the ability to think and act rationally in collective self interest. Marxists are the second best example of the belief contaminated mind exemplified by the irrational attack on Malthus. Thomas Malthus wrote an Essay on the Principle of Population which can be meaningfully reduced to a single sentence. The biotic potential of Human beings (or any species) exceeds the carrying capacity of its habitat. Proof of the accuracy of this statement lies in the very existence of species. Marks lacked an ecological perspective so he like the pope, buddha or george bush has nothing relevant to say about human affairs. Given that the world is controlled by these contaminated minds the next one hundred years will see human suffering on an unmanageable scale as we go through energy decent