I remember years ago seeing something, quite possibly on television, but maybe in a magazine, where someone said, or wrote, that as homeopathy uses such extreme dilutions, if homeopathy works then that must mean it works by some mechanism of which we presently (that is, at the then present time) know nothing.

Now there is quantum entanglement being discussed.

And it made me wonder.

I remember long ago reading a science fiction story called "Not in the literature".

I had a quick look on the web. I have not found it. I don't remember who is the author.

William

I saw something about entanglement and one article, just a general thing, seemed to me to have a bit of an Emperor's New Clothes thing about it. Believe or at least go along with, stupidity or be regarded as stupid oneself.

But some time later I saw another article and it seemed ssensible in that the two things, to be or seem to be entangled had at some previous time needed to to be together.

So I remembered four things from ordinary life that seemed the same.

The half-a-sixpence thing, where a man who has to go, perhaps to war, or whatever, cuts a coin in half and keeps one half and gives the other half to his girlfriend.

Someone who had a degree from Cambridge told me that his certificate was ripped across the lower edge and he speculated that somewhere in the university was a book with the lower ends of degree certificates in it with the names of the people to whom the degree had been awarded, so that the authenticity or otherwise of a purported certificate could be determined by attemping matching the torn edge of the purported certificate with the retained lower part.

Apparently in olden times in Italy if a woman gave her baby to an orphanage because she was unable to look after the child properly, she could tear a piece of cloth in two and put one half with the child and keep the pther half. Thus the mother could reclaim the child at a later date if her circumstances improved.

I read somewhere that in olden times, possibly in England, but I am not sure, the terms of a loan or perhaps a mortgage were recorded on a plank of wood by means of holes and marks and then the plank was cut down the middle and each of the two people retained one half, thereby a protection as to what had been agreed.

So is quantum entaglement something like that, information retained in two pieces that were once together?

Placebo is interesting. I read somewhere of a trial where people were given placebos and some got better.

Apparently, placebos have in some cases been known to work even when the patient knows that the tablet has no medicine in it.

That sounds peculiar, but I am wondering if the routine of having something to do, like take one at 10 am and take one at 6 pm, helps give a structure to the patient's day so that the patient is not just at home alone all day, but has tablets to take, so maybe makes a meal to have with it, rather that letting his or her regular eating pattern drift.

I remember reading of a mental hospital where they gave patients electrical shock treatment and patients got better. One day a new docor, who had previously worked elsewhere using the same treatment, and pointed out that the equipment was broken and not in fact giving any electrical shock at all. So the question arose as to why the patients had been getting better. It was concluded that instead of normally feeling isolated and lonely, in the time before, at, and after the procedure, the patient was the centre of attention from the doctors and nurses and that had a positive effect on the patient.

Astrology is interesting as some parts of it may be encoding observed knowledge. For example, one's star sign. Well, that is indicative of which nine months one was in gestation, and a country far from the equator has ambient temperatures and light intensity that vary greatly during those months, and chemical reactions often depend upon temperature. So does which nine months gestation takes place affect the brain?

I read once of a French study where they used a French book of a similar nature to Who's Who, and compared day and month of birth of people at the top of whatever they did, like musician, artist, soldier, whatever, using a null hypothesis that birth date should not be significant as to profession. But apparently the null hypothesis was disproved.

However, the result could be skewed by the cohorting of children into school years.

For example, as children playing football in a year-group, boys born in September may be 10% or more, more developed than boys born in August as they are almost a year older.

I might have read somewhere that there is a tendency for professional footballers to have been born sometime within September to December.

Another thing about Astrology. If one looks at the sky and sees a star, that means that the light from that star is causing a sensation in one's brain. Do we know that as well as what we call vision that it is not causing other effects as well?

William

William:

When you did your research for your wide ranging exposition, did you perchance come across this (quite hard to direct the search engine!):

https://www.quora.com/What-does-a-Unive … ke?share=1

Admittedly, this does not address the exact point about tearing the certificate, but I think it is covered implicitly.

BTW, are you aware that the term Poll as applied to voting refers to the exact opposite of identity confirming tearing. Two-part documents would be cut, razored if you like, to prevent cross reference and identification. Having your hair cut to a standard length could also be referred to as polled, and the same term is used as a synonym of pollarded  referring to the cutting back of certain kinds of tree.

I’m afraid I can’t quite make sense of this, William. Could you … er … disentangle it for me, please?

I’m immediately reminded of ‘Half A Sixpence’, the musical adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel ‘Kipps’.

Sort of "Tanglewood Tales", eh?

Thank you for posting the video.

It is a pity that such discussions use the example of cruelty to a sentient creature.

They could quite easily use a glass vase instead. The glass vase remaining whole or becoming shattered.

William

I have found them.

https://unicode-org.atlassian.net/browse/CLDR-13722

Three posts, one from me just adminstrative.

William

I am reminded of an episode of Fawlty Towers where two people are each Doctor Somename and are in fact two doctors who are married to each other and Basil Fawlty gets into a muddle about it.

I suppose that the scriptwriters could have got more from that as one could have been a medical doctor and the other, say, a linguist.

Basil could have then asked one of them to look at his foot and be advised to speak to the other one and Basil get indignant about whether it was a demarcation issue and would it be the first doctor if he had asked about his head.

William