Suspicious0bservers
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Suspicious Observers (Suspicious0bservers) is a pseudoscience YouTube channel run by ex-lawyer Ben Davidson who has a degree in economics from Denison University and a Juris Doctorate from Capital University Law School, but no actual science training. His ideas have been debunked by genuine climate scientists.[1] He has various websites on which he sells his scribblings and tickets to his "annual conference".[notes 1] Davidson makes far-fetched claims about dozens of scientists attending his conferences and conversing secretly with him, but there has only been one notable name at any of his meetings — John Coleman, another notable climate denier.
Pillars of bollocks[edit]
The Suspicious0bservers claim to have four "pillars of success", all of which are pseudoscientific claims with no backing from any published scientist: a) the Sun plays a role in earthquake processes, b) electrical activity on Earth can help you "predict" where earthquakes will occur, c) climate change is massively misrepresented due to improper accounting of CMIP6 'solar forcing' data, and d) dark matter is actually normal matter we can't see.
Climate change[edit]
Davidson's opposition to climate science appears to be motivated entirely by errors in fact. He claims (incorrectly) that the current climate modelling data excludes hundreds of solar-forcing papers published over the last few decades while including only wave energy (not particle energy) as proof that the natural-variability attribution to the atmospheric/oceanic energy budget is inaccurate.[2]
Dark nutter?[edit]
Cosmology is where Davidson is truly out of his element; he and most of the Suspicious0bservers mob have decided that dark matter does not exist, contrary to the scientific consensus that dark matter must account for a large portion of the universe.[notes 2]
Earthquakes[edit]
In 2015 Davidson "published" a paper in a pay-for-play denialist ("contrarian") journal claiming that the solar polar magnetic field, which has peaks in strength and polarity reversals over time, correlates with large earthquakes;[3] this theory similarly has no support from real scientists.
Electroquakes[edit]
Davidson fantasizes about what he calls "electroquakes", earthquakes that are accompanied or preceded by electromagnetic phenomena.[4] While seismo-electromagnetics is under investigation,[5][6] none of the papers Davidson points to actually cite him or his ideas, and there is no evidence to suggest that he has had any influence. Furthermore, Davidson claims to be able to predict earthquakes on the basis of electromagnetic measurements,[7] while current evidence indicates that earthquakes do not produce strong enough signals to be used in forecasting, and signals are often detected over long periods of time, rather than immediately preceding earthquakes.[8][9]
Pissed at us[edit]
In part of a physical threat warning to Professor Dave Explains for debunking a related claim he said that this RationalWiki page was ready to "pillage" and said it was all "lies". The response is on this frame in Dave's youtube video now debunking the channel[10]
External links[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ Suspicious0bservers.org, SpaceWeatherNews.com, MagneticReversal.org, QuakeWatch.net, ObservatoryProject.com, and OTF.selz.com
- ↑ Though some alternative to dark matter, such as modifications to gravity at a large scale, have been suggested, dark matter remains the dominant theory.
References[edit]
- ↑ drkstrong. Ben Davidson Exposed. YouTube, 15 May 2014.
- ↑ Davidson, Ben. Weatherman's Guide to the Sun, 2nd Ed. (2018) SpaceWeatherNews
- ↑ Davidson, B., Holloman, C., U-Yen, K. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN M8+ EARTHQUAKE OCCURRENCES AND THE SOLAR POLAR MAGNETIC FIELDS, New Concepts in Global Tectonics Journal, v3. n3. 2015
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWEn5JZ22dk
- ↑ Gopal S., et. al. "Development of a monitoring system for ionospheric TEC variability before the earthquakes." ScienceDirect. doi:10.1016
- ↑ "Atmospheric and ionospheric coupling phenomena associated with large earthquakes." Springer Link. doi:10.1140
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6hDMIbC3YI
- ↑ https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-1-4020-4423-6_291
- ↑ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0040195108003521
- ↑ https://youtu.be/3fTLZTEE7mU?t=30