Conference noted::sf

	One of the most well-known and least-understood areas of medicine 
is the Placebo Phenomenon.  Any doctor with experoence will tell you
that the Placebo Effect enables a physician to administer sugar pills
to cure an ailment, and the patient taking the pills improves.  Apparently
mental attidude, where the patient becomes _convinced_ that the medicine
is helping him or her, is all that's needed.  But labeling the phenomenon
the Placebo Effect doesn't explain the mechanism.
	Without the pills, it would be called "faith healing," whether or
not there was a religious component involved.  By characterizing it as
an "effect," it seems to take on a more respectable ring.  But it doesn't
explain how it works.
	The Placebo Effect is outside current understanding of the mechanisms
involved -- but it works.  And since it can be used to work ill as well
as good, a physician who ignores it (especially in underdeveloped areas)
does so at his or her professional risk.
	Could there be an SF story built around the Placebo Effect?  You
betcha!
	Would such a story conform to current theory?  Hardly: there *is* no
theory.  At least, there isn't any universally accepted one, though there
are private theories ranging from subconscious stimulation of this or that
biological process to intervention by imps or cherubim; these are actually
hypotheses, to be accurate.
	There are duobtless other "gray area" phenomena worth discussing.  I
don't know where Sasquatch, Loch Ness, or other monster sitings should be
included (I'd suggest excluding), but there are certainly other offbeat
items that ought to be discussed.
	Any inpts?

Steve Kallus, Jr.

Just slightly right of the Placebo Phenomenon is the modern day snake oil:
DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide).  Normally, it is used in chemistry as an 
almost-universal solvent.  However, there are claims that it cures everything
from arthritis (sp?) to some cancers.  In fact, the FDA has reviewed the
research (because of its proposed drug usage) and can't exactly reject 
the claims -- but it can't accept them either, so it will not approve DMSO as
a drug. 

The FDA is supposed to protect us from harmful drugs. (It made Coca-Cola take
the coke out!)  It also says it is supposed to protect us from ineffectual
drugs -- placebos.  It will approve a drug as effective if the researchers
provide "double-blind" test evidence that says the drug does what it says
it does.  A double-blind test is a variant of the old experimental/control
test:  neither the person who administers the dose nor the person who receives
it is supposed to know whether it is the real thing.  The problem is DMSO
is such a good solvent, it goes straight through human tissue and it cases
a strong garlic taste.  The receiver knows very quickly whether heshe got
the real DMSO whether it is ingested or just rubbed on!

Is DMSO a wonder drug?  Is it a fancy placebo?  


John B. 

John, I think you're understating something... DMSO stands for dimethyl-
sulfoxide.  When it's absorbed through the skin, the smell is closer to
sulphur dioxide -- the rotten egg smell.

Does it work?  I know dancers who swear by it. Is it a placebo? I don't know.
Could the placebo effect be the basis for a SF story? Yes.  But would it
be *real* SF?  I don't know. See the note with 62 (so far) replies.
                            
					andrew

re .3:

	Er, the purpose of this notefile was to open the discussion of "gray
areas" of research/technology/knowledge.  The Placeoo *Effect* is a phenom-
enon that is documented, works, and whose principle is (as yet) unknown.
If, for purposes of discussion, we agree that SF must have in its "S" known,
repeatable phenomena, the "gray areas" are where the phenoomena are valid,
repeatable, and yet where the underlying principle hasn't been pinned down.
To many, this includes parapychology, or "psi."  There are many psi-based
SF stories, ranging from The Lensman Series through _The_Demolished_Man_ to
some of the current stuff.  Some are more credible than others (many I have
talked with consider telepathy more likely than telekinesis, for instance).
I hope this file will examine some of these "closet cases."

	As to whether it's *real* SF, that's what Note 194 is all about.  What
we're concerned about is whether it's "real" enough to be the S in the SF

Steve Kallis, Jr.

If anti-matter is possible, then is "anti-energy" possible? 

When I turn on the air conditioner, I'm not really cooling the air, I am
moving the heat outside.  Is it possible to anti-burn some anti-coal in
my anti-furnace to cool my house?  Not likely, but...

Everyone has heard of E = mc**2 (at least I assume they have!)  which is
based on PE = 1/2mv**2 (potential energy).  It seems to me that to achieve
a negative value on the left, one of the values on the right has to be
negative, and it can't be velocity because it gets squared (unless you want 
to talk about imaginary numbers), so it must be mass that is negative. 
So what's negative mass?  Does anti-matter have negative mass?  mumble,mumble,
naw, that's too easy.

Well what is energy, so that we might be able to recognize anti-energy?
According to what little I know about quantum theory, energy comes in discrete
energy packets: photons.  When one of these packets hits an atom, it makes it go
faster; it kicks an electron into a higher orbit.  When an atom gives up
some of its energy, it gives off photons.  That's why really hot things glow. 

Maybe anti-energy comes in anti-photons which hits the atom and acts like
black-strap molassus in your car's crankcase.  Or maybe it reacts with photons
the way anti-matter reacts with matter: the two annihilate one another. 
The E = mc**2 equation says mass/energy is maintained, so perhaps the
annihilation leaves a sub-atomic particle behind.  Who knows?

What could anti-energy be used for?  This is an energy dampener!  It could
revolutionize the refrigerator and air conditioner industry.  (Big deal)
It could be the ultimate nuclear protester!  (Hum, possibilities...)



John B.

       What about stories about shrinking or growing people?  The most we
usually find out about these unfortunate souls is that they were blasted
by some form of hithero unknown radiation. Suddenly they wake up the next 
morning and they are 2 inches tall.

       How is this shrinking achieved? Do the atoms themselves become smaller?
If so, how?  Are atoms perhaps thrown off of the body?  Does the space in 
between the atoms beome smaller? Is relativity involved? Is this concept
a valid SF concept?

       -- Andy

	Growing/shrinking people, alas, are at least partially discouraged
by the square-cube law.  This simply says that since the weight of an
object is proportional to its volume and the strength to its cross-
sectional area, the larger a thing grows the proportionally weaker it gets.
That's why the average worker ant can lift many times its weight and the
average programmer has trouble lifting the equivalent of his or her body
weight.
	This could be modified in a low-gravity situation (which is also why
whales live in water).  _But_ this is for things that grow naturally.
	Atoms can be compressed (see any stellar dwarf), but the characterist-
ics change, and molecular structure would vanish.
	Therefore, not a valid SF concept unless you do a _lot_ of explaining!

Steve Kallis, Jr.

Reviewing the notes so far, I guess I didn't put in a strong enough
case for what I'm trying to do.

If we accept that a story with verifiable and repeatable phenomena
falls into the category of science fiction (see 194 to see how far
*that* discussion's been going!), then we have two categories of
phenomena:

	1) Those covered by theory (e.g., a story using the principles
        of physics).

	2) Those _not_ covered by theory (e.g., a story using the placebo
        effect).

The key words here are "repeatable and verifiable."  Suppose I come up
with a parapsychological talent first suggested by Alfred Bester: 
"simulkinesis" -- defined by him as the ability of a person[/entity] to
be in two separate places at the same time.  There are hints this might occur
at the subnuclear level, but at the gross material ("everyday") level, it
hasn't happened.  It *could* be covered by hypothesis, but it hasn't been
reliably verified in the real world (a few sensational stories of the Med-
eival world nonwithstanding).  That simulkinesis isn't covered by theory
doesn't give it the right to be an SF story under Category 2. [If one
comes up with an interesting concept they might build enough of a structure
of theory to enable it to *become* an SF story, but that's another matter.]

What I'm hoping for is a discussion of repeatable/verifiable phenomena
of category 2.  That's what the file's supposed to be about.

Steve Kallis, Jr.

Here's a grey area that might fulfill the criteria mentioned in the previous
response... In the realm of subatomic physics, there are times when an action
that seems "backwards" can be explained in one of two ways: 

The action was performed by an antiparticle,

Or, the action was performed by the particle, traveling backward in time.  

There is no way for us to determine which of the two is the "correct" 
interpretation.

					andrew