This target was too easy to ignore! Having criticized aspects of Ken Wilber's 'philosophy' in a previous post about CAM I thought I should tackle some of the practical manifestations of his belief system.
He has been actively endorsing the Q-Link, the sole product of the manufacturer Clarus, Inc. They describe it as
The Clarus website features a motion-graphic introduction with the following narrative:
Links
Energy medicine: An Overview
NIH NCCAM website
The Amazing QLink Science Pendant
The Guardian May 19, 2007
Clarus Transphase Scientific
Q-Link manufacturer
a sleek pendant that tunes your being for optimal living: More energy, less stress, greater focus, and enhanced well being. No matter what you do, the Q-Link simply helps you feel better and gives you a creative edge by helping to harmonize your mind and body.Small wonder that Wilber is so enthusiastic in his endorsements of Q-Link; he is closely involved with the company, and believes that its 'innovations' are a direct consequence of his 'Theory of Everything.'
The Clarus website features a motion-graphic introduction with the following narrative:
Clarus Transphase Scientific discovers frequencies found in nature, applies them through technology to enhance and clarify the linkage between physical and non-physical domains.Sympathetic Resonance Technology (TM) is described as a discovery which
Greater human potential is realized. Sympathetic Resonance Technology (TM). Born from nature, harnessed by science, ready for us.
clarifies the fundamental information pathways between physical matter, linking it to its conjunct non-hertzian field.What, you may well ask, is a non-hertzian field? The web site goes on to explain:
Everything physical has a fundamental field of non-hertzian energy made up of energetic vortices. In living systems this field is called the Biofield, a term coined by the US National Institute of Health (NIH) in 1995. This "non-physical" field that surrounds and permeates every cell represents a new frontier for science and humanity.Now, that is very re-assuring, the National Institute of Health is a reputable governmental agency. If they refer to biofields then it must be true! Or? When you check the NIH website page on Energy Medicine they describe biofields as putative (as opposed to veritable) and are undetectable. Further, they state that the health claims made regarding biofields
are the most controversial of CAM practices because neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly by any biophysical means.
If that isn't enough to convince you that the Q-Link is nothing but a marketing scam lurking behind a thinly veiled facade of pseudo-science then review how a group of electronic geeks examined the Q-Link. Ben Goodacre of the Guardian writes:
We chucked probes at it, and tried to detect any “frequencies” emitted, with no joy. And then we did what any proper dork does when presented with an interesting device: we broke it open. Drilling down, the first thing we came to was the circuit board. This, we noted with some amusement, was not in any sense connected to the copper coil, and therefore is not powered by it.Which for me kind of describes Ken Wilber - connected to nothing, except perhaps his enormous ego and bank account.
The eight copper pads do have some intriguing looking circuit board tracks coming out of them, but they too, on close inspection, are connected to absolutely nothing. A gracious term to describe their purpose might be “decorative”. I’m also not clear if I can call something a “circuit board” when there is no “circuit”.
Finally, there is a modern surface mount electronic component soldered to the centre of the device. It looks impressive, but whatever it is, it is connected to absolutely nothing. Close examination with a magnifying glass, and experiments with a multimeter and oscilloscope, revealed that this component on the “circuit board” is a zero-ohm resistor.
This is simply a resistor that has pretty much no resistance: in effect a bit of wire in a tiny box. It might sound like an absurd component, but they’re quite common in modern circuits, because they can be used to bridge the gap between adjacent tracks on a circuit board with a standard-size component.
And that’s it. No microchip. A coil connected to nothing. And a zero-ohm resistor, which costs half a penny, and is connected to nothing.
Links
Energy medicine: An Overview
NIH NCCAM website
The Amazing QLink Science Pendant
The Guardian May 19, 2007
Clarus Transphase Scientific
Q-Link manufacturer
23 comments:
You should be wary of your criticisms, your level of judgments on others will come back to self-judgments. I'm not necessarily defending Q Link or Ken Wilber, but simply asking you... what have you done to help humanity? Are you even trying to make a positive difference? Focus on your own growth might be better invested energy and more helpful to others.
Namaste,
Dey
Dear Dey: Thank you for your comment. There seems to be an implicit assumption in your post that my criticism of pseudoscience is in itself not intended to be helpful for humanity. It is because I wish to protect innocent and gullible people from charlatanism that I speak out against it. Your belief in karmic retribution (against skepticism - as if that were a moral sin!.. what a bizarre idea to have about morality btw !!!!!!!!) reflects a bizarre New Age delusion in which I do not partake. It is as meaningless to me as the biblical condemnations that I have received saying that I will burn in hell for defending the rights of homosexuals. The thing I find most amazing about the religious crowd is your unfounded pious self-righteousness.
JB
Thanks for collating some useful info on this absurd product. I have just seen it advertised in The Independent "50 Top Tips for Fitness", where it was recommended by someone trading as the "Body Alchemist". I guess one way of identifying suitable customers would be to find people for whom Alchemy has positive connotations.
I'll be writing a letter sticking the boot in tomorrow. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for that thorough review, I once had an argument with a believer about Q-Link, who kept sending me the Q-link page as an absolute proof that thing worked, and insulting me (the first Buddhist that needed anger management). But of course I've found too that some geeks opened the device and found nothing but what you mention here. Keep up the good work.
I agree with the first Anonymous post...Your first statement, that the NIH doesn't support them, doesn't make any difference to me- it simply says that they are controversial. I support the Q-Link completely, because of the difference it has made in my life. I don't care if it's supported by science. Since I got mine, I started getting to sleep SO much easier. I lost it two weeks ago, and I'm going to get a new one as fast as i can- in these last two weeks, it suddenly started to take me one or two hours to get to sleep. THAT is my evidence.
I don't care about the science of it either. I have been sleeping better than I have in years since I purchased one. They are returnable if they don't work so what did I have to lose. BTW, my little dog has not taken a seizure since I attached the pet one to her collar. Soooo, for me, the money was well spent. It has helped me and my dog.
I'm normally all about the scientific proof, but I'll have to side with the pro-Qlink set on this one. I don't know how the thing works, but I'm glad someone discovered it and offered it up for sale. I've been ill for a year, which has made me so weak that walking past an elevator shaft in a hotel would drag so badly on my energy level that I felt I was walking through mud. Simple allergies in my own home had the same effect to a slightly lesser degree. My MD (who did not sell me the QLink, or have any attachments to someone who did) recommended this device. I've had it for about a month & I've seen the best improvements in my overall condition that I've seen in a year. I can move again. Before I became ill, I was a 33 year old, fit, healthy woman. I'm so glad that QLink is finally helping me get that back. I don't care what doesn't attach to what after someone takes a drill to the unit--magnets don't have to touch to work, so why must this? Just because one smarty pants doesn't understand what another smarty pants did, doesn't make it faulty. I'd hate to think that someone like me out there would take this review seriously & miss out on the benefits of the QLink.
Dear KAT (and teh other Q-Link fans!):
I am sorry to hear about your health problems, but glad to hear that you are feeling better. But perhaps you would be feeling that way anyway without the Q-Link Pendent - the body heals itself. So often people take "pseudo" medications, such as homeopathic remedies for a cold for example and because they recover ascribe the healing to the bogus medication.
One famous adage goes that with my homeopathic pills my cold goes away within seven days: without them I recover within a week!
Correlative coincidence has too often been led to the misidentification of causative agents. It is a well-known fallacy known as causal confusion.
No legitimate study has discovered any healing effect whatsoever from magnets or Q-Link pendents. I highly recommend a book called "The Power of Critical Thinking - Effective Reasoning About Ordinary and Extraordinary Claims" by Lewis Vaughn.
All the best to you, and I hope you read the book I recommended. It could change the way you see the world! It is very sad that so many Americans are becoming anti-intellectual and anti-science.
All the best, Jennifer
Scoff all you like, I have the Q-Link pendant and am already feeling a lightness in my wallet that I haven't felt since the end of last month, I have also noticed that the hair on my head has started to regrow and has gained lustre, my feet have stopped producing their offensive odour, my faeces are now rose scented and the doors at my grocery store open automatically for me. Unfortunately the anti shoplifter alarm goes off every time I try to leave the store and whenever I walk near my local cell phone mast the pendant burns its shape into my chest but I think that's a small price to pay. God bless you Ken Wilber. I have already mailed him my checking account number and power of attorney so he may extract my cash whenever he wants to.
useless blog, everyone: click "next blog" at the top of the page lol
Well the copper coil doesn't have to be connected to the circuit and for the testing you should view the persons blood work before ever putting it on and then 14 days after to see the amazing difference.
None of you can tell me it doesn't work as I was suffering from heart palpitations for 4 years and 2 days after wearing the QLINK it has not occured even once. How can that suddenly stop by itself.
It works, once on the body it amplifies the bodies natural energy signature I bought it and will never regret it, any skeptic should buy one and try it for 2 weeks then tell the public what you think, because it works I've never made false claims it doesn't benefit me in any way to do so, so stop criticizing a product you know nothing of.
It's total nonsense.
Even my dad as got taken in by this scam. I told him it wouldn't work but he still bought one anyway. Actually I think that might not be fair, I think it was my mum who bought it for him, just incase he reads this.
I'm an electronics engineer and I can tell that it's just a zero Ohm resistor and a coil embedded in a piece of plastic: totally useless as mentioned above.
For those who swear by it, look up the placebo effect which basically means that if one believes it works it will. In other words it's all in your head. The only actual improvement in ones condition will be down to an improvement in their mental health, which in itself has been scientifically proven to have positive health benefits.
Real cures are subject to a double blind study.
The trouble with scams such as Q-Link is as well as ripping people off, it can cause them to delay being treated by a doctor which can be deadly, if it's something like cancer.
I would like this kind of crap to be taken off the market. Call me what you like but I'd rather you whine at me rather than someone die because they didn't go to see their doctor about severe headaches caused by a brain tumor which was untreatable by the time they saught medical attention.
Google magnet and copper therapy scam for more evidence of similar cons.
Yeah, I've had a Qlink necklace for years and it's never done a thing for me. I go with the placebo effect. I think people want it to work and therefore they believe it's actually doing something when, in fact, it's doing nothing at all. I just add this to another piece of jewelry tied in to all the new age crap like The Secret. Who has ever actually wished for a car or a home and gotten it for free because you've thought of it? Oh sure, the naysayers will say it worked but it's all a joke.
There are others that believe that if you send "happy thoughts" to plants they will grow and it some cases bring forth fruit. This is all new age bullcrap. The only thing that's ever been scientifically proven with plants is playing music for them. There are plenty of tests on how plants respond to music.
I used the example of plants just as an example of how far fetched this new age crap actually is. I mean, when did we become a world of gullible, stupid people that will buy or believe anything because one person says it's so?
Huh, Dabbling in the Occult is an offence to your Creator! If you want something that works , then buy a Faraday Cage. I guarantee you one of these WILL work against all emf's. Anyhing less is a trinket.
the truth of the matter is that there isnt any difference between fundamentalistic religion and fundamentalistic materialism. Both need a middlemen between them and ultimate truth, be that a priest or a scientist telling them what s truth and what isnt. All those scientific studies that you moderns like to quote so much, are nothing more than words, that have hardly ever been directly experienced by yourselves... therefore is faith. Faith in the scientific paradigm, not belly knowldege but faith in somebody elses word.
Like RAW said, todays science is the new inquisition.
I wish you wouldn't call the q-link products pseudo science. Pseudo science is only partly or mostly flawed or nonsensical. Phrenology, kangen water and iridology are pseudo science. Q-link is complete undiluted nonsense shined up with with a bunch of buzz words (I'm an engineer BTW).
Here is something I hope you will address. I think that products like q-link can have a real benefit as a placebo. It is my understanding that the placebo effect is so powerful that it is standard practice to guard against it when doing research. Personally it seems to me that this effect is even more significant with people who have stress and anxiety problems. If you stop and think about it, a placebo is may be better than real medicine in that it is proven effective, it's inexpensive (unless you've been scammed out of big bucks), and any side effects are imaginary.
So, here is my question, after someone has bought one these devices, is it ethical to deny them the benefit of the placebo effect by telling that the product they bought is based on absolute nonsense if they haven't asked for your opinion?
i love the qlink, resonance makes total sense. all you ahve to do is take two same tone tuning forks, strike one and bring it close to another. it will begin to resonate as well. we are organic beings of earth and earth frequencies are our natural healthy harmonic state. clearing your bio field from the impedance of man made radio, microwave, satelite waves etc makes perfect sense. stressors cause helath problems. disturbing the polarity and harmony within your cells, within your blood the most sensitive organ in your body by these stressors is fact. ever used your phon ein your basement? it works. these waves will go right through you and you need ALL the help you can get! this is a serious issue and concern. our children with their cell phones, wireless internet in their rooms. not accepting this fact is simply absurd. i have done my research to an extent which certainly satisfies me! and like i said you need all the help you can get. don't get me wrong there are plenty of crappy products on the market which havent the slightest idea of what they are doing. qlink and clarus speak to me. they speak to the science which stares everyone in the face. if you want something as concrete as your phone in your pocket working, go by a philip stein watch. www.philipstein.com this is the onyl reference to this here and now you know. this is only available in holt renfrew in canada or by ordering online. do you think a store liek holt renfrew which only sells brands liek versace, gucci, etc. is goign to offer a product with absolutely no leg to stand on. it makes sense guys!!! i own a watch and i won a pendant! double up is my only recomendation. you need all the help you can. the science is real. the facts are facts. qlink passive pendants work because it resonates when your heart beats, philip stein watches are active and function through batteries creating a scalar wave which clear out other competing waves. this si the future. resonance can bring down entire buildings if you find the right frequency. the scalar wave invented by nicola tesla who also created alternating current which you use every day, but people only know edison? IF YOU THE PEOPLE KNOW, COMPANIES WOULD HAVE TO BE ACCOUNTABLE. things are changing my friends. d-wave systems has created and sold the worlds first quantum computer to U.S. defence behemoth lockheed martin. this is fact! how does it work! ONE CAN ONLY DREAM! but with this you will KNOW , the world is going to change! this from someone who lives in burnaby british columbia CANADA! where this was made! the centre of the universe as far as we may know! CHEERS, THE ONE! CLARUS!? WHY...ORACLES... GREEK PROHETS.. TEMPLES . BUY ONE YOU NEED IT. NUFF SAID
The Very Reverend Jennifer needs a good talking to. The pseudoscience she attacks is what present-day science will be categorized as in years to come. She implicitly sets herself up as some kind of authority on Truth and Effective Reasoning, which is rather odd coming from someone who is so dismissive of something she understands so little as Divine Truth. Re. her comment about homeopathy, it is instructive to remind ourselves that within the last week the Swiss government has produced a report fully authenticating this treatment modality, and indeed stating that, if adopted, it would save their health service millions of francs annually whilst ameliorating or curing those who utilise it.
Over to you, Jennifer.
Alun makes some perfectly reasonable observations about the placebo effect; but makes the error of assuming that because it presumably utilizes the intrinsic ability of the spirit or soul ( oh dear! Not scientific concepts!) to interact with its physical counterpart, it is somehow less worthy of respect, whereas the truth in fact is the very opposite. He loses my respect however when he suggests that the person to go to when you have cancer is a doctor. These charlatans have nothing to offer you but three treatments, two of which are carcinogenic, and the third grossly disfiguring. This is not because they do not know this, but because since the early part of the 19th century, the entire medical establishment was infected by the Rockefeller money interest, which seeks not cures, but profits for shareholders. This prostitution of true science has disgraced and degraded the respect which we might once have had for the profession. I believe it is the case that the iatrogenic death toll in America today is equivalent to a Jumbo Jet crash every day. Unfortunately, the rot has infected the western scientific paradigm to a very profound level, not just in the sphere of medicine; but time and space preclude a deeper analysis.
And here is the link:
http://www.naturalnews.com/035714_homeopathy_Switzerland_health_care.html
One question: is the coil ends shorted?
Dude what is up with you? You are like these folks from church who didnt want to look into a telescope because the bible says it all. You just start with some assumptions, and from there on you build your argument - on pregiven assumptions. Science starts with questioning assumptions.Read Popper and other points made about the philosophy of science, you have no clue at all what you are trying to do, what you mean by reason, is not reason, it is a form of believe that refers to thje common sense of your immeediate sourrounding.
To give you a kickstart for thinking: everything is defined by epistemology, methjod, ontology(see Wilber) That is, through which lense am i looking, what method do I use, what am I looking at?
SO F Ex, if you define the looking as objective evaluation, the method as empirical, and the ontology, lets say, the physical realm, seen from the outside, you can only, from there, make judgement about these points. So if from there you judge sth is by definiot part of that category, you cross your own line of defining.
That is totally simple, I wonder, did you actually think while writing or was this done in half coma???
Sorry if my English is weird, but I hope I have been able to make my< point.
Reason is not be unreasonable and belief oriented, as you mainly demonstrate.
And, while you might have noticed, I am a Wilber Fan, I dont know anything about q Link. I mantain my scientific bias in this regard, which says: you shall not know, and even if you research, you shall admit you only know the product of your research and can act on the best you have according to your best, most rightous and most compassionate meaning making, modelling and so on,, but you still should not know, cause research is endless and infinite
I bought a nice teal coloured Molex coil for $10, soldered on a zero ohm resistor & attached it to a lovely silver chain. I feel mahvelous.
Sometimes it is hard for people to understand how something works when it isn’t clearly shown. I believe that the qlink products work, there are double blind studies which have been carried out which show blood cells with and without a Qlink present. Our environment is constantly being bombarded with unnatural frequencies which are harmful to our biology. Constantly having these stressors around us makes us sick be it having headaches or developing cancers. We live on a natural planet and our bodies too are natural, our natural frequencies are weakened by wifi radiation which has become the core of our focus what with Social media being everyone’s new reality, mobile phones, smart TVs, iPads, laptops, game consoles, wireless doorbells and cameras. This fast developing so called ‘smart’ world isn’t as smart as we are all led to believe. Sadly too many people have bought into the idea of it and cannot see harm and damage it is doing. This will only worsen.
https://www.qlink.co.jp/research/research_2_effectsonBloodandBio_Apr2001.pdf
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