The ouija (/ˈwiːdʒə/ WEE-jə), also known
as a spirit board or talking board,
is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet,
the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", "hello"
occasionally, and "goodbye",
along with various symbols and graphics.
It uses a small heart-shaped piece of wood
or plastic called a planchette.
Participants place their fingers on the planchette,
and it is moved about the board to spell out words.
"Ouija" was formerly a trademark belonging
to Parker Brothers, and has subsequently become a trademark of Hasbro, Inc. in the United States,
but is often used generically to refer to any talking board.
According to Hasbro, players take turns asking questions
and then "wait to see what the planchette spells out" for them.
It is recommended for players over the age of 8.
Following its commercial introduction
by businessman Elijah Bond on July 1, 1890,
the ouija board was regarded as a parlor game
unrelated to the occult until American spiritualist
Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I. Spiritualists claimed that the dead
were able to contact the living and reportedly
used a talking board very similar to a modern ouija board
at their camps in Ohio in 1886 to ostensibly
enable faster communication with spirits.
The Catholic Church and other Christian
denominations have "warned against using ouija boards",
holding that they can lead to demonic possession.
Occultists, on the other hand, are divided
on the issue, with some saying that it can be a
positive transformation; others reiterate
the warnings of many Christians and caution
"inexperienced users" against it.
Paranormal and supernatural beliefs associated
with Ouija have been harshly criticized
by the scientific community, since they are characterized
as pseudoscience. The action of the board can be
parsimoniously explained by unconscious
movements of those controlling the pointer,
a psychophysiological phenomenon
known as the ideomotor effect.
Occam's razor, also Ockham's razor or Ocham's razor;
Latin: novacula Occami; further known
as the law of parsimony (Latin: lex parsimoniae)
is the problem-solving principle that essentially
states that simpler solutions are more likely
to be correct than complex ones. When presented
with competing hypotheses to solve a problem,
one should select the solution with the fewest assumptions.
The idea is attributed to English Franciscan friar
William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347), a scholastic philosopher
and theologian.
