Street light interference

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
A streetlight on its mounting pole using a high intensity lamp fixture
A streetlight on its mounting pole using a high intensity lamp fixture

Street light interference, or SLI, is an alleged anomalous phenomenon where a person seems to turn off (or sometimes on) street lights, or outside building security lights, when passing near them. A person believed to have this effect is called a "SLIder" by those who believe in this phenomenon. SLI is described in a book called The SLI Effect by one of its believers, Hilary Evans, who coined the word "SLIder".[1]

Mercury vapor street light fixture
Mercury vapor street light fixture

Although street lights sometimes turn on and off by chance (especially at the end of their life cycle), believers in street light interference tend to claim that it happens to them personally on a regular basis, more frequently than chance would explain. Claimed SLIders propose paranormal explanations for SLI, sometimes based on scientific terminology, such as the explanation that electrical impulses in their brain interfere with the workings of electric lights. Anecdotes about people's experiences of SLI have been reported be news sources.[2]

SLI has never been demonstrated to occur in a scientific experiment, and claimed SLIders have been found to be unable to reproduce the effect on demand; they give the explanation that the effect is not within their mental and physical control.[3]

The skeptical explanation to claims of street light interference is to consider it an example of observer bias: people are much more likely to notice when a street light near them turns on or off than they are to notice a street light in a steady state. This is compounded by a failure mode of street lights, known as "cycling", in which street lights turn off and on more frequently at the end of their life cycle.[4] A top high pressure sodium engineer at General Electric, quoted by Cecil Adams, summarizes that SLI is "a combination of coincidence and wishful thinking".[4]

Contents

[edit] Media

These videos illustrate situations in which SLI may occur:

[edit] References

  • Waymouth, John (1971). Electric Discharge Lamps. Cambridge MA: The MIT Public Press. ISBN 0-262-23048-8. 
  • Street Light Interference article published in scientific magazine Omni, September 1990 journalist Dennis Stacy,
  • Street Light Interference articles reported by Robert McMorris Omaha World-Herald several issues January 1990.
  • The Paranormal Investigator's Handbook by Valerie Hope. Publisher by Sterling Co. 1999. ISBN-10:1855857030.
  1. ^ The SLI Effect, by Hilary Evans. ISBN 0-9521311-0-2.
  2. ^ CNN reports on the effects of a claimed SLIder with interview in a video clip of this person making such a claim.
  3. ^ SLIders & the Streetlight Phenomenon, in About.com's "Paranormal Phenomena", by Stephen Wagner.
  4. ^ a b Cecil Adams. "Can some people extinguish streetlamps by means of their bodily emanations?" In "The Straight Dope", October 28, 1994. Retrieved April 6, 2007.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/t/r/Street_light_interference.html"