Kunstkamera: E-Meter — The Scientology Thetan Device

Nowadays there are many strange organizations. One of them is the community of Scientologists. Their teaching is a mixture of a very specific religion and a near-scientific heresy of philosophy. The main nuances of Scientology and the theoretical platform on which the teaching is based were well shown in the South Park animated series, season 9, series 12, so there will not be detailed introductory information in this post.

But since a post of this kind appeared on Habré, it should have a definite relation to this resource. And it is - in this material tells about what the E-meter. The gadget is used by Scientologists to determine the concentration of thetans (do not even ask what it is). It costs about 7 thousand euros. Probably, in his design are used rubies and diamonds? Not at all. Let's see what it is.

History of creation

For the first time about the E-meter became known in the 40s of the last century. It was created by the inventor and manual therapist from the USA Volney Matheson. Initially, the device was called Mathison Model B Electropsychometer - “Matheson's electroshometer model B. Matheson”. Matheson himself was a psychoanalyst, a supporter of the Freud school.
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In order to use the psychometer, the patient had to lay his hands on the electrodes (initially they were ordinary metal trowels). This system measured the resistance of the human body, and Matheson, looking at the result, made certain conclusions about the mental state of his client.

Ten years later, Scientologists began to actively use this system to their advantage. E-meter in a slightly modified form is used to this day. Moreover, after Ron Hubbard (the founder of Scientology) had a hand in his construction, the psychometer began to be called the “Hubbard Electrometer”. The founder of Scientology was even able to get a patent for it - this happened in 1966. The patent is quite logical description of the psychometer as a system for measuring the electrical resistance of the human body, no thetans are mentioned in the text. There is a patent on the design of the device.

According to Scientologists, the device allows us to estimate the predisposition of a potential adept to Scientology itself. The higher the result, the better. Conclusions about the suitability of a potential member of the organization to bear their heavy burden are made by analyzing such a component as a thetan (what it is - it's better to google, you can explain the concept if you understand what it is, I personally did not quite understand).

What is the E-meter really?

This is a common galvanometer based on the Wheatstone bridge . That is, the device measures the electrical conductivity of the body through the skin of the palms of the hands. No magic - the usual tricks.



According to experts, the E-meter can not distinguish between positive and negative emotions, he can only register such a parameter as arousal. It is worth noting that lie detectors, which are often severely scolded for their poor-quality work, register from 4 to 9 parameters of the human body. But the E-meter, as already mentioned above - just one parameter.

The removal of this one parameter is very much dependent on a large number of very different factors. For example:

• Characteristics of the microclimate at the location of the analysis (temperature, humidity and air pressure);
• The area of ​​contact of the palms with the sensors;
• Muscle tone at the time of the reading;
• Skin moisture;
• The number of asteroids in the asteroid belt ;
• Clean hands;
• Mood and general psychological state of a person.

The e-meter shows the most different readings even for one person at different times, not to mention different people. All this is pseudoscience, there is no more real science here than in the coffee grounds, by which naive people try to find out their future. At the same time, the Scientologists themselves say that external factors can be easily removed with the help of fine tuning the device.

Parse the E-meter for parts and estimate its total cost.

A few days ago, a network review appeared on the device. The device fell into the hands of iron lovers who disassembled it. They didn’t find any thetans and super-secret parts.

But they found inexpensive elements that make up the device. Actually, complex parts are not needed for measuring electrical resistance; this is a very trivial task. In the device for greater importance left an analog dial, digital, as far as can be understood, Scientologists did not install.

The device itself conforms to the standards of measuring devices of the 90s of the last century. The most difficult detail in the design is the 8051st microcontroller. Yes, there is also a digital dial, which also shows something.

As for the cost of individual nodes, it is low. So the potentiometer installed in the E-meter costs from $ 20 to $ 60. Switch - another $ 5. Hull - let $ 20. The cumulative cost of all items hardly exceeds $ 100- $ 150. Let me remind you that the price of the device is about seven thousand euros.

Here is the build quality of all this - at the height, here Scientologists have tried. The creators of the device have tried, there is no backlash and gaps. No squeaks, great build. More detailed debriefing - below.


Conclusion? And he is not here, everyone can make it for himself. One thing is clear - people have been deceived and will be deceived in the most sophisticated ways, attracting near-scientific methods of influencing the weak consciousness of potential adherents. Will the E-meter review affect Scientology supporters? Hardly.