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Comment by pmorici | Hacker News Reader

Something that isn't mentioned in the article but probably plays some role in the desire to believe that these things work in parts of the world where Islam is prevalent is the low stature of dogs in the religion. Since dogs are the typical go to bomb and contraband detecting technology in the world it's easy to see why a police department in a Muslim area might find a device that can detect bombs w/o the use of a dog attractive.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1029887/Muslims-sear...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_animals#Muslims_and_s...

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Fairly ignorant comment you've got there. What you wrote is akin to saying Jewish men won't touch unrelated women or their own adopted children because you once met an Orthodox Jew who told you about negiah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negiah). Also the daily mail is full of shit.

Here's some Muslims getting along just fine with their bomb sniffing dogs: http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/as-soldiers-leave-...

What happened here was a man committing outright fraud and the fact you're blaming it on the religion out of your own ignorance is pretty sad.

  > the fact you're blaming it on the religion

However misguided, the parent's comment amounts to 'Muslims are more gullible.' While that may not be true, it doesn't excuse a conman from defrauding someone just because they were more gullible than someone else, and I don't believe that the parent is trying to claim this either.

I would not be surprised to hear that conmen believe that someone who takes the more fantastical parts of scripture literally is an easy mark.

I don't think he is even trying to claim Muslims are more gullible, in general. He just claims this may be a weak spot for Muslims. In other areas, they may not have weak spots that others have.

It doesn't explain why Americans spent so much money buying these devices.

Or why a Lebanese general (that country is roughly 60:40 muslim:christian) believed it. Or why the non-muslim American inventor believed he had created a working detector.

It might be connected to Muslim dislike of dogs. Or maybe it's just that conmen are conmen and can persuade people to buy junk regardless of religion.

> Or why the non-muslim American inventor believed he had created a working detector.

Did he?

It's possible. That's what someone quoted by the article suggests.

People can be stupid without being malicious.

> Although Kelly is unequivocal about the Quadro principals’ fraudulent intent—“They were con artists,” he says—Murray feels that Quattlebaum, at least, genuinely had faith in it. “I think he did believe in it—it was his invention,” he says. Quattlebaum could have fallen victim to the ideomotor effect, the same psychological phenomenon that convinces users of dowsing rods and Ouija boards that they are witnessing the results of a powerful yet inexplicable force. In response to suggestion or expectation, the body can produce unconscious movements, causing a sensitive, free-swinging mechanism to respond in sympathy. “It’s very compelling, if you’re not aware of what’s causing it,” Murray says.

Some of the people peddling homeopathy really do believe it works, and that's just as clearly nonsense.

Thanks, I didn't know that there was an incarnation that was not based off a novelty toy golf ball finder.

James McCormick himself clearly knew that the tool didn't work.

> Some of the people peddling homeopathy really do believe it works, and that's just as clearly nonsense.

And yet, if believing in homeopathy cures the ailments that homeopathy claims to cure, doesn't that in itself mean homeopathy works? Perhaps not in the way it's advertised, but still.

No it isn't. It's a kin to saying that many Jewish people prefer to eat Kosher meals so when the government goes to buy emergency rations it looks for ones that are Kosher.

I don't see why it's "ignorant" to think a government institution wouldn't take into consideration the local cultural sensitivities when making decisions.

It has nothing to do with "blaming" it on religion. It's just that individual preferences might have made this scam more attractive in some parts of the world. I'm not sure what your point is, have you ever lived outside the US you seem to lack a nuanced understanding of foreign culture.

I think this is slightly misguided, dogs don't have a low stature in the religion, but sadly, many ignorant Muslim mistreat them or will make claims based on those ignorant views (as relayed by those articles).

Muslims are required to wash what part of their body or clothing enter in contact with the dog saliva, but this likely a hygiene measure. It doesn't mean they are forbidden to touch the dog or its saliva in the first place.

Eating dog meat is forbidden, but that doesn't mean the animal has a low stature. I haven't done research on this, but I suspect the same could be said of pigs.

And using bears -- which meat is also forbidden to Muslims -- won't make people less ignorant :)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/15/islam-on-dogs-can-y... http://www.islamicconcern.com/dogs.asp

Pigs could probably do the job as well, but I think they are held in similar esteem. Maybe they should train black bears or something. Do Muslims like bears?

Pigs poop a lot. They don't really handle getting in and out of cars or going up stairs well either. Their hooves tear up lawns.

Ever tried to get a 150 pound pig into a minivan?....

(it's not fun, alcohol helps)

Americans also bought these devices and those people were not Muslim and had no particular opinion about dogs.

Why people wants to believe it works ? Well, it has nothing to do with religion. Reason is same as using robots for manufacturing : It's cheap, fast and could be 7/24 on duty.

Why these devices haven't tested properly ? Easy, corruption (, which is not condoned by any religion)

It doesn't necessarily need to be corruption. If the device just makes random beeps or something then it's easy enough to be convinced that it's correlated with how close it is to explosives.

People do not automatically think of doing a blind test and measuring the results and seeing how well it correlates with actual bombs.

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