Debunk / Teardown suggestion: Scientology e-meter

[lundmar]

I would love to see Dave do a teardown video of the Scientology e-meter: http://www.scientology.org/what-is-scientology/the-practice-of-scientology/the-e-meter.html



Just to see how it tickles Daves BS-meter ha ha

You would have to be a moron of highest order to believe in this BS lol

I'm sure it would make an excellent video!

[Brumby]

[lundmar]

Ha ha yes, it's the human hot dog cooking machine!

I think the only positive thing that can be said about this scam device is that the mechanical design is well done.

[Gyro]

I can't see why you would think such a thing was useless - It's clearly got a clock display!

It may even have an alarm function for all you know. 

[Brumby]

It may even have an alarm function for all you know. 

I think that's the delayed start feature.

[lundmar]

C'mon guys, put a vote for yes. We need Dave to create this epic video

[bd139]

Watch it, they are lawyer trigger happy.

Back in the early 2000's my father reversed his Range Rover over one of their "free stress test" recruiting tables in the street "by accident" to protest his friend's suicide who was caught up in it all in the 90s. Police thought it was hilarious and refused to do anything about it or allow them to press charges as it was "clearly an accident ... snigger". He received some very strong legal threats after that. They had no grounds to prosecute on however as the police issued a statement to his legal counsel saying that the table had overhung the parking space and the local council said they were in violation of local street trade licenses. Mwuhahaha.

If you were to take that to bits, they'd send you for auditing with the lawyer shaped anal probe.

Bastards all of them.

[lundmar]

The difficulty is in obtaining one of those puppies. If some former scientologist has access to this magical device please send it to Dave!

I'm sure a tear down will reveal that there is no science in Scientology 

[bd139]

It's a fancy ohmmeter. Patent here: https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/E-Meter/hubbard-patent.html

Teardown of an older unit here: http://xenu.freewinds.be/meter/e-meter_e.htm

I actually used a Leader LCR-740 to wind up the kids once by telling them it was a lie detector. Amazing how far you can take a credible looking device 

[babysitter]

Watch it, they are lawyer trigger happy.

Yeah, even posting the picture here might hurt them badly. Design copyright, you know.

[Brumby]

Watch it, they are lawyer trigger happy.

Yeah, even posting the picture here might hurt them badly. Design copyright, you know.

I doubt they would get anywhere with that ... Images can be found all over the internet and if you want to look deeper, you can always check out the Patent office.  For example....  U.S. Patent 2,684,670



This is all public domain.

[lundmar]

Sigh.. of course those Scientology scam artists made a patent on their magical device. 

[Assafl]

Why is it interesting? I suppose it would do little to degullibilize the gullible.

Once someone puts emotional capital in nonesense they are hard to reprogram. EMDR perhaps?

[lundmar]

Why is it interesting? I suppose it would do little to degullibilize the gullible.

I'm sure a tear down video will reveal some interesting things. DaveCam makes everything interesting.

You also have to consider the entertainment value - imagine Dave and Dave2 testing each other with the e-meter to see who is most conductive to Scientology lol

[mcinque]

Watch it, they are lawyer trigger happy.

Oh, like Lord Voldemort, you can't even say its name or you're in great trouble (but noone knows what exactly happens if you do).
So, according to this scary thing, anything that discredits scientology like the Discovery series "my escape from scientology" should have been banned (while it's still there).

[bd139]

Lots of people know what happens when you do: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Game_(Scientology)

Nothing should be banned but be prepared to lawyer up in return if you throw stones in that greenhouse.

Personally I’d like to fuck with them on a more covert scale rather than ridicule. Destroy them from within.

[lundmar]

"Ridicule is the proper response to beliefs such as Jesus' mother was a virgin, Joshua slowed Earth's rotation or Muhammad split the moon." Quote Richard Dawkins

I agree with Dawkins, and I would certainly not be afraid of ridiculing Scientology - it's a bat shit crazy religion.

[floobydust]

The E-meter as I understand is a Wheatstone bridge skin galvanometer that likes to oscillate, implying ET involvement. The meter movement dynamics are very important and specially tuned for Hubbard.
The three-transistor version has been around for ages but 8051 seems used now.

Basically scares a layman into spilling the beans, not so much a basic lie detector, meter just moves around based on sweat. High gain but not sure if pulse is also part of it.

Since you are recorded during your "clearing" (confession), this is a great way to acquire blackmail material.

Did you ever burn a 555 timer?
"uh might of" meter swings, oscillates
Did you do it on purpose?
"I don't think so, I forgot to ground it"
You don't like 555 timers, do you? meter pegs
"ok I hooked it up backwards" 

[PA4TIM]

a year ago someone asked me to make a copy of his meter. He gave a link to a site that did a teardown and wrote clearly why it was a bullshit-meter but he did not understand that. He also mailed me pictures of the inside (veroboard , long wiresa, bad soldering, tape and a hotglued 2 dollar multimeter) and a schematic I thanked for that. He then called me on the phone and offered a lot of euros if I made one. He had payed 5000 euro for his meter.  I did not do it.

But it was hard to say no because it was very kind man and I think he really believed that he helped people with it.

I can not find the pictures or I did not save them

[lundmar]

Oh cmon! Who are those scared infidels that vote to not wanna see what could become an epic debunk/teardown video! 

[CJay]

Exercise caution/restraint replying to this thread, there have been some forums which have found themselves subjected to some heavy duty harassment because of 'innocent' conversations and it's not unknown for people with an axe to grind to cause problems for forum owners by invoking conversations involving certain groups of people.

[Assafl]

Oh cmon! Who are those scared infidels that vote to not wanna see what could become an epic debunk/teardown video! 

I am one of those "scared" infidels. Not so "scared" as you would think (nor am I a plant for the evil ranch). *

1. I don't think it will "help". I do not think the gullible folk that are targeted by the Miscaviges (and his ilk) frequent engineering forums. Neither would they be on Stack Exchange. Just because folk here tend to view the world with a sceptic POV.

2. I do not think it is interesting. Bio feedback isn't interesting but it is a bit more than this. Real lie detectors are more interesting still. How does one gauge FP and FN rates for those?

3. I dislike electronics used as scam. I can make a needle move. Heck, my electrometer can be made to move by just walking across the room. But I think it is a scam to attribute Ohm's law to a Theton. Albeit I am sure that were Theton's real, they'd have some sort of resistance. If they sweated saline, perhaps their resistance would drop if they perspired. But I am no expert on the imaginary friends of L Ron. Even as science fiction it is meh.

4. There is some risk of credibility given when one is willing to have a discussion. Just like with audiophilia. If Dave were to say "what is that capacitor doing in a DC circuit?" then immediately their "creator" police would state that there are a lot of things Dave doesn't understand. Only a level 8 can... "Did you see how Dave failed to understand L Ron's still unequalled invention?".

I'd rather see yet another scope or the PC104 or mailbag rather than how shysters abuse electronics.

Sorry - but it is just me.

* (Edit) - As I was writing this I realized that perchance the this makes it out of the EEVblog crowd and saves even 1 poor, (obviously theton infested) soul - it would be worth it. Hence perhaps I am on the fence rather than squarely against it... 

[lundmar]

Geez, no offense, but you guys are over-thinking this simple matter and being way too PC. When did we all turn into snowflakes?

I'm only advocating to mix up the many calculator, multimeter, psu, etc. teardowns with something of a different nature and in this case a magical item which demands to be debunked.

We are not trying to save the world here - just entertain and inform people. 

[bd139]

Problem is the people who are promoting it are complete nutbags with a large budget and a lot of previous history who will want to cause you trouble.

[Assafl]

The op asked Y/N. I really don’t care if Dave does or not. And I answered no.

But that said, to entertain it isn’t. E-meters are some sort of Galvanometers or Ohm meters that are used to exploit and cause real harm to other people for money.