3 ms·

> As an engineer I know to look for a slight depression in the ground, maybe so slight most can't notice, and the smell of wet dirt is different Also spots wit

> As an engineer I know to look for a slight depression in the ground, maybe so slight most can't notice, and the smell of wet dirt is different Also spots with unusually healthy plants. If most of the grass is dry but there's a depression in the ground with slightly greener grass, there's probably water there. There are lots of subtle signals like that which an experienced dowser could subconsciously tap into.

AlotOfReading 4y ago
This is one of the things that archaeologists are trained to recognize to find buried sites. Different types of soil retain moisture differently and man-made structures can cause uneven plant growth, forming cropmarks. Mostly you'll just see the natural variation of the soil though.
VLM 4y ago
I bet on a smaller level there's even variation in leaf and bark color. Another interesting theory: Everyone knows plants wilt when dry and perk up somewhat when watered; human eyes are hunter eyes, are we're good at detecting movement; can a trained gardener / professional orchard operator / dowser see in the movement of the leaves and branches in the breeze which plants are near a leak or a high water table area? I bet they can, consciously or unconsciously. There's always a little wind where I live. I was thinking about my unusual ability to find bad capacitors; I'm a little proud that my ancestors and I have excellent visual resolution and no astigmatism but it would be very funny if my unconscious ability was seeing overheated components brown with heat; everyone's seen totally roasted and burned carbon comp resistors, but failing caps go high ESR which means high heat which means maybe I'm unusually good at color perception despite my pride about my lack of visual astigmatism. This probably happens with dowsers; they think they're "seeing" colors in the plants, but it would be funny if its not visual at all and they're actually feeling the bounce in their step as they walk across a lawn or field, or as you mention, they operate off being unusually sensitive to tilt.

AlotOfReading 4y ago

This is one of the things that archaeologists are trained to recognize to find buried sites. Different types of soil retain moisture differently and man-made structures can cause uneven plant growth, forming cropmarks. Mostly you'll just see the natural variation of the soil though.

VLM 4y ago

I bet on a smaller level there's even variation in leaf and bark color. Another interesting theory: Everyone knows plants wilt when dry and perk up somewhat when watered; human eyes are hunter eyes, are we're good at detecting movement; can a trained gardener / professional orchard operator / dowser see in the movement of the leaves and branches in the breeze which plants are near a leak or a high water table area? I bet they can, consciously or unconsciously. There's always a little wind where I live. I was thinking about my unusual ability to find bad capacitors; I'm a little proud that my ancestors and I have excellent visual resolution and no astigmatism but it would be very funny if my unconscious ability was seeing overheated components brown with heat; everyone's seen totally roasted and burned carbon comp resistors, but failing caps go high ESR which means high heat which means maybe I'm unusually good at color perception despite my pride about my lack of visual astigmatism. This probably happens with dowsers; they think they're "seeing" colors in the plants, but it would be funny if its not visual at all and they're actually feeling the bounce in their step as they walk across a lawn or field, or as you mention, they operate off being unusually sensitive to tilt.