Ken Wilber and the Q-Link pendant

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

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.
Greater human potential is realized. Sympathetic Resonance Technology (TM). Born from nature, harnessed by science, ready for us.

Sympathetic Resonance Technology (TM) is described as a discovery which

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.

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.

Which for me kind of describes Ken Wilber - connected to nothing, except perhaps his enormous ego and bank account.

Links
Energy medicine: An Overview
NIH NCCAM website
The Amazing QLink Science Pendant
The Guardian May 19, 2007
Clarus Transphase Scientific
Q-Link manufacturer