Scientology's $5,000 E-meters are surprisingly well-engineered

[phands]

Interesting...I love BoingBoing...

The E-meter is a quack device used by Scientologists in a religious ritual called "auditing" in which changes in skin potential are said to indicate past traumas (including traumas from past lives) being re-experienced and cleared from your psyche.
After extensive litigation, Scientology started adding a disclaimed to its E-meter packaging and manuals saying that "by itself [the E-meter] does nothing."
Early E-meters were crude electronic devices, often compared to soup-cans by Scientology critics. But the modern models -- which cost $5000 -- are extraordinarily well-engineered as Play With Junk discovered when he bought a 2006 model on Ebay (for $100!) and did a teardown of it for his YouTube channel.

 

[Valjean]

What did this e-meter actually measure?

 

[phands]

What did this e-meter actually measure?

It measures "electrodermal activity", which is scientology bullcrap. Essentially, it measures skin resistance, but even that is bollocks in this context.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Scientology demands it's "auditors" own two of these E-meters. Just in case.

 

[phands]

Scientology demands it's "auditors" own two of these E-meters. Just in case.

Yeah....and they have to buy them from the "church".

 

[skepticalbip]

The video was rather odd. The guy never got around to mentioning what the circuit was. Most of circuit was the charger, clock, and drivers for the displays. Other than that, it appears to just be a simple wheatstone bridge.

 

[bilby]

An 'E-meter' is basically just a Wheatstone Bridge; It measures tiny variations in skin conductivity/resistance, essentially using the subject's body as a random noise generator.

Given that it's purpose is not defined, it's not really possible to say whether or not it is 'well engineered' - the quality of a piece of engineering is dependent on how effectively, efficiently, and elegantly it achieves its designed purpose, and so if the designed purpose is unknown, the quality cannot be assessed.

As a means of measuring skin conductivity, it is a poor piece of engineering, as it is far too sensitive to trivial fluctuations.

As a means of generating random noise, it is perhaps fair to say that it is 'well engineered'.

As a means of separating gullible people from their money, sanity, and freedom, it appears to be excellently engineered, but then, that was arguably true of the older "cruder" designs too, so the addition of high quality components or architecture could be considered inefficient, and therefore 'less good' design.

As a means of detecting 'Thetans' it is exactly as good as any other object, because they are imaginary.

As a lie-detector, it may have some minor value, but like all 'lie detectors' its effectiveness depends on a skilled operator and a gullible subject, and an E-meter can be expected to perform even more poorly than a polygraph in this regard, as it does not measure other physiological stress responses, such as heart and breathing rates. Even a polygraph is pretty close to useless as a lie detection apparatus, and an E-meter can be expected to be worse.

It all depends on what you want the thing to do.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

The purposes of the E-meter are well defined in Scientology training materials. It is supposedly to hunt down and remove engrams, many from past lives. And to wake up sleeping body thetans and remove them. And for running Sec checks, security checks, a form of lie detector activity. The E-meter is center piece of the most expensive woo woo in the world. Wake up! Wake up little body thetans! You're free at last!

 

[sinkorswim]

The purposes of the E-meter are well defined in Scientology training materials. It is supposedly to hunt down and remove engrams, many from past lives. And to wake up sleeping body thetans and remove them. And for running Sec checks, security checks, a form of lie detector activity. The E-meter is center piece of the most expensive woo woo in the world. Wake up! Wake up little body thetans! You're free at last!

So, in essence, this device is well engineered to take money from the fools for the "church".

Sent from my LG-TP450 using Tapatalk

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

The purposes of the E-meter are well defined in Scientology training materials. It is supposedly to hunt down and remove engrams, many from past lives. And to wake up sleeping body thetans and remove them. And for running Sec checks, security checks, a form of lie detector activity. The E-meter is center piece of the most expensive woo woo in the world. Wake up! Wake up little body thetans! You're free at last!

So, in essence, this device is well engineered to take money from the fools for the "church".

Exactly. Auditing is the heart and soul of Scientology for the average member. It can go on for years and directly involves an "auditor" and an E-meter. It is a real grand mind fuck. Past Scientologists state that auditing can be like a drug, a Scientology joke is calling it auditine. For some, once hooked on auditing, one becomes an auditing junkie. Scientology has been very active in suing and harassing those who leave Scientology and try to start non-Scientology organizations where on can get their auditing without the rest of the Scientology bullshit.

There is an old term, "Up the pole" in Scientology. The first few auditing sessions can give one a weird and very pleasant altered state of consciousness, it has been described as floating in the air, and feeling ten foot tall.. This never lasts long and rarely is found in later auditing sessions, but some Scientologists audit for years chasing that feeling again.

Lots of ex-Scientologists, fed up with Scientology's evil side abandon it and find their way to the "Free Zone", where many ex-Scientology auditors can deliver auditing without the huge expense and Scientology mind fucks. Scientology has utterly failed to stamp out the Free Zone. There are probably far more practicing Scientologists in the Free Zone than in the Church of Scientology itself.

Hubbard long ago wrote, "The work is free, keep it so". It has become something of the unofficial motto of the Free Zone.

 

[steve_bank]

The e meter is a galvanic skin response(GSR) meter. It was originally used as part of a lie detector. As a person sweats under interrogation skin resistance changes. The technical tern for an e meter is a galvanometer. Hubbard took the idea from that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrodermal_activity

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3386730/

There are studies which indicate that stress increases the risk of cardiac problems. In this study we have designed and built a stress sensor based on Galvanic Skin Response (GSR), and controlled by ZigBee

https://www.media.mit.edu/galvactivator/faq.html

The skin conductance response, also known as the electrodermal response (and in older terminology as "galvanic skin response"), is the phenomenon that the skin momentarily becomes a better conductor of electricity when either external or internal stimuli occur that are physiologically arousing. Arousal is a broad term referring to overall activation, and is widely considered to be one of the two main dimensions of an emotional response. Measuring arousal is therefore not the same as measuring emotion, but is an important component of it. Arousal has been found to be a strong predictor of attention and memory.

http://www.shimmersensing.com/products/shimmer3-wireless-gsr-sensor

A skilled experienced Scientology operator who knows what it is may be able to detect truth or evasion. It could also be used to condition and brainwash the gullible.

They are easy to make, there are schematic online. Minus a fancy box you can build a good one for about $20 to $30.

Hubbard was a so so scifi writer who invented Dianetics. There are alleged links to Aleister Crowley, an occultist con ,an who had wealthy patrons. It consisted mostly of fabricated occult ritual, sex and drugs.

http://www.spaink.net/cos/essays/jacobsen_magic.html

 

[steve_bank]

Hubbard's patent

https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/E-Meter/hubbard-patent.html

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/E-Meter/faq-on-emeters.html

In Understanding the E-Meter, L. Ron Hubbard clearly set forth his theory explaining the changes in resistance measured by the E-Meter:

"For the meter to be read, the tiny flow of electrical energy through the preclear has to remain constant. When this tiny flow is reduced due to increased resistance, the needle of the E-Meter movement moves off the dial to the left. This happens because the preclear pulls in mass. This is actual mental mass (condensed energy), and this mass acts as a resistance to the flow of electrical energy from the E-Meter. The tiny carrier wave becomes partially blocked." -- Understanding the E-Meter, page 74.
​

L. Ron Hubbard makes it clear that this "actual mental mass" has the same physical characteristics, including weight, as mass as commonly defined and understood by both physicists and lay persons. L. Ron Hubbard explained:

"In Scientology it has been discovered that mental energy is simply a finer, higher level of physical energy. The test of this is conclusive in that a thetan "mocking up" (creating) mental image pictures and thrusting them into the body can increase the body mass and by casting them away again can decrease the body mass. This test has actually been made and an increase of as much as thirty pounds, actually measured on scales, has been added to, and subtracted from, a body by creating "mental energy." Energy is energy. Matter is condensed energy." -- Understanding the E-Meter, page 50.
​

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Have you had enough science for today?

​

 

[bilby]

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/E-Meter/faq-on-emeters.html

In Understanding the E-Meter, L. Ron Hubbard clearly set forth his theory explaining the changes in resistance measured by the E-Meter:

"For the meter to be read, the tiny flow of electrical energy through the preclear has to remain constant. When this tiny flow is reduced due to increased resistance, the needle of the E-Meter movement moves off the dial to the left. This happens because the preclear pulls in mass. This is actual mental mass (condensed energy), and this mass acts as a resistance to the flow of electrical energy from the E-Meter. The tiny carrier wave becomes partially blocked." -- Understanding the E-Meter, page 74.
​

L. Ron Hubbard makes it clear that this "actual mental mass" has the same physical characteristics, including weight, as mass as commonly defined and understood by both physicists and lay persons. L. Ron Hubbard explained:

"In Scientology it has been discovered that mental energy is simply a finer, higher level of physical energy. The test of this is conclusive in that a thetan "mocking up" (creating) mental image pictures and thrusting them into the body can increase the body mass and by casting them away again can decrease the body mass. This test has actually been made and an increase of as much as thirty pounds, actually measured on scales, has been added to, and subtracted from, a body by creating "mental energy." Energy is energy. Matter is condensed energy." -- Understanding the E-Meter, page 50.
​

------

Have you had enough science for today?

​

LOL

30lb is 13.6kg, multiplied by c² gives 1.2 x 10¹⁸J of energy, or about 250 megatonnes. That's five times the energy of the largest nuclear bomb in history.

Under no circumstances should you get within 20km of a scientologist, just in case he converts thirty pounds of his body mass into energy, and levels the entire city.

 

[steve_bank]

Religion for fun and profit.

Back in th e80s in Portland Or on my way home from work when I changed busses downtown I'd pass the Scientology place. Waiting for a walk light a woman walked up and asked me if I knew what the place was pointing to Scientology. She asked if I would go with her to check it out. After a while I saw he doing the same thing over and over. Sad really. reduced to a sort of prostitute for Scientology.

Back in the 70s the hook was a personality profile. In Hartford Ct they were out on the streets with a clipboard asking people to take a personality test. Held under the board was a copy of Dianetics.

There was a series on History Channel hosted by the female lead in King Of Queens. She was raised in Scientology. She went through her process and revealed the insides. She did say there were times she was fearful.

 

[Jason Harvestdancer]

I've always wondered what reading is supposedly the good reading, high resistance or low resistance.

I could coat my hands with wax. I could attach a silver wire between my palms. Either of those would produce a very spurious reading (as if their reading wasn't spurious in the first place) but which one would make them say "By Xenu's Beard, you're an OTXXXXXXX!"

 

[Tom Sawyer]

I've always wondered what reading is supposedly the good reading, high resistance or low resistance.

I could coat my hands with wax. I could attach a silver wire between my palms. Either of those would produce a very spurious reading (as if their reading wasn't spurious in the first place) but which one would make them say "By Xenu's Beard, you're an OTXXXXXXX!"

I think the reading where you give an indication that you'd be open to handing them more of your money would be the one which gets that response.

 

[Jobar]

I think it's kinda nice that there are a few things where we can wholeheartedly cooperate with Christians.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

I've always wondered what reading is supposedly the good reading, high resistance or low resistance.

I could coat my hands with wax. I could attach a silver wire between my palms. Either of those would produce a very spurious reading (as if their reading wasn't spurious in the first place) but which one would make them say "By Xenu's Beard, you're an OTXXXXXXX!"

Long time Scientologists stuck in the Sea Org were often subjected to intrusive auditing and in some cases sec checks. Some learned the almighty E-meter, always used in such situations was easy to woof.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]