MichaelC-
I find that hard to believe, because the gemara explicitly states that when the nail is moved from the original place it fell, even just swept to the other side of the room, it does not have that effect.
The simple explanation of the gemara is that it refers to a certain ??? ???. Although we generally don’t go as far as to completely abolish halachos based on ??? ???, numerous poskim indicate that we are not prone to it the way they were in the olden days.