Originally published in The Rationalist, Vol I, Issue I - http://rationalistpk.org/2012/06/gravity-hills-supernatural-forces-at.html
Gravity hills are the places where due to the surrounding perspective and absence of a reliable reference point, a slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope. Hence, when a ball is rolled or water is dropped or a car is freed of gears, all of them seem to move uphill - against the gravity. Recently, and even more frequently people at facebook and through emails started sharing the youtube videos of Wadi-i-Jinnat (The valley of Ghosts). Very learned fellows with scientific backgrounds showed offensive belief in the presence of supernatural forces in the valley, especially when it was located in Saudi Arabia (hence increasing the probability of existence of supernaturals).
Whereas, this happens to be, just an optical illusion, where absence of a reference point in the horizon shows the downhill slope as an uphill ascent. This is similar to the Ames room optical illusion where a trapezoidal room from one perspective seems as a cube. A person standing at the longer distanced corner seems shorter than a person standing at the shorter distanced corner, when viewed from front.
This effect was invented by an American opthalmologist Albert Ames Jr. in 1934. The same effect was used in many hollywood movies, later on, to show giant creatures standing in front of dwarf humans. In the same room, if a ball is rolled, it appears to defy gravity.There is another Honi Phenomenon, in which things less closely observed seem more distorted than the things more closely observed, in the same Ames' room. It is this Honi phenomenon at work which distorts our analytical ability and clouds our judgement towards the scientific explanation of events. The Honi phenomenon towards belief in supernatural instead of scientific explanation makes the later more distorted due to less acquaintance and belief in science.
There are hundreds of gravity hills present around the globe, a list of which can be seen here. However, I have a funny argument as a crux. Does Jinns (Ghosts) really need such a simple trick to show people their supernatural ability? Why don't cars fly in the air, out there? Time to open the minds for reason.
Gravity hills are the places where due to the surrounding perspective and absence of a reliable reference point, a slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope. Hence, when a ball is rolled or water is dropped or a car is freed of gears, all of them seem to move uphill - against the gravity. Recently, and even more frequently people at facebook and through emails started sharing the youtube videos of Wadi-i-Jinnat (The valley of Ghosts). Very learned fellows with scientific backgrounds showed offensive belief in the presence of supernatural forces in the valley, especially when it was located in Saudi Arabia (hence increasing the probability of existence of supernaturals).
Whereas, this happens to be, just an optical illusion, where absence of a reference point in the horizon shows the downhill slope as an uphill ascent. This is similar to the Ames room optical illusion where a trapezoidal room from one perspective seems as a cube. A person standing at the longer distanced corner seems shorter than a person standing at the shorter distanced corner, when viewed from front.
This effect was invented by an American opthalmologist Albert Ames Jr. in 1934. The same effect was used in many hollywood movies, later on, to show giant creatures standing in front of dwarf humans. In the same room, if a ball is rolled, it appears to defy gravity.There is another Honi Phenomenon, in which things less closely observed seem more distorted than the things more closely observed, in the same Ames' room. It is this Honi phenomenon at work which distorts our analytical ability and clouds our judgement towards the scientific explanation of events. The Honi phenomenon towards belief in supernatural instead of scientific explanation makes the later more distorted due to less acquaintance and belief in science.
There are hundreds of gravity hills present around the globe, a list of which can be seen here. However, I have a funny argument as a crux. Does Jinns (Ghosts) really need such a simple trick to show people their supernatural ability? Why don't cars fly in the air, out there? Time to open the minds for reason.
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