[FRIAM] invoking quantum woo (was Book publishing advice needed)

[∄ uǝlƃ]

OK. So, maybe y'all have collectively provided an answer. The reason(s) people invoke quantum woo so *often* is because it serves several (perhaps conflatable and ambiguous) purposes.

In order of appearance in the thread:
1) justificationist appeals to authority
2) donning attributes others (seem to) have but you don't
3) hearkening to paradigm shifts and longing for solid foundations
4) power (both social and individual)
5) evocation of the shaman/oracle archetype

Note, I'm not including ordinary physics, only woo, because that's what irritated me enough to stop reading "Ignorance" for so long. Firestein has lots of other riffs and hooks and it was childish of me to react that way ... but I can't help it. The woo is killing me. By contrast, imagining (and ruling out) an "airfoil" around pond scum in relation to the Purcell paper was NOT irritating at all. Invocations of actual physics are fine. Invocations of mysterious stuff just because it's mysterious flips my triggers.

Speaking of the Purcell paper, this popped off the queue this morning:

New Clues To ALS And Alzheimer's From Physics
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/07/08/888687912/new-clues-to-als-and-alzheimers-from-physics

I'm embarrassed that I didn't notice it sooner.

-- 
☣ uǝlƃ