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Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds of years

phys.org

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Re: Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds of years

#81

Post by irrational »

eigenket wrote: post #59
cybert00th wrote: post #58

The more we look, the more we learn. If that's one thing we can learn from modern archaeological methods, it's that past generations had their own levels of sophistication and advancement, and we'd be wise to remember this

Yeah, humans haven't really changed very much biologically in the last 100000 years or so. Its often easy to think that advanced problem solving abilities are relatively modern, but theres not really any reason to think you or I are smarter than someone 50k years ago.

It also makes me wonder how many geniuses lived long ago. Was there someone born 80,000 years ago that would have been smart enough to design an FTL engine or know how to bridge quantum mechanics and general relativity? Perhaps only one person in 100,000 years is that smart and they were born way before their time.

Re: Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds of years

#82

Post by saalweachter »

Arrath wrote: post #80
saalweachter wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're saying that you first need to found your startup as a dystopian venture with a secure facility that needs vandelising, then rebrand your company around the art created?

That is deliciously vile.

I'm thinking something like "Uber for cosmetics testing", where people can sign up to test cosmetics on their household pets in a distributed marketplace.

Re: Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds of years

#83

Post by alexpotato »

rudyfink wrote: post #2

As a related aside, split pieces of wood--so the holder could check and see the pieces matched up--were also used as an anti-fraud device ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_stick ). Apparently, these pieces of wood are were we get the term "stock." In case you ever wondered why the word for an ownership share is the same word as "stick, trunk, block of wood, or post" (Germanic / Dutch / Old English), this is appar…

In the book Gates of Fire, it's mentioned that split pieces of wood were used as "dog tags" for soldiers.

Each solider would write his name on the stick, break it in half, toss one half into a basket and tie the other stick to themselves.

At the end of the battle, any stick still in the basket that wasn't claimed was clearly a "casualty". The sticks tied to the individuals could also be used for identification.

Re: Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds of years

#84

Post by jamiek88 »

saalweachter wrote: post #82
Arrath wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is deliciously vile.

I'm thinking something like "Uber for cosmetics testing", where people can sign up to test cosmetics on their household pets in a distributed marketplace.

Ooh nice or along those lines, baby cosmetics and accessories - lipsticks, wigs, Botox lip treatments. All at home!

Re: Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds of years

#85

Post by jamiek88 »

irrational wrote: post #81
eigenket wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, humans haven't really changed very much biologically in the last 100000 years or so. Its often easy to think that advanced problem solving abilities are relatively modern, but theres not really any reason to think you or I are smarter than someone 50k years ago.

It also makes me wonder how many geniuses lived long ago. Was there someone born 80,000 years ago that would have been smart enough to design an FTL engine or know how to bridge quantum mechanics and general relativity? Perhaps only one person in 100,000 years is that smart and they were born way before their time.

What about people laboring in the fields or Cambodia or a sweatshop in Thailand even today. There must be many geniuses who have lived and died in drudgery.

The explosion of science in the late 1800s was largely the work of a over moneyed and underworked class of second sons and landowning clergy. They had lots of free time, education and wealth to explore their ideas.

Re: Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds of years

#86

Post by [deleted] »

intrasight wrote: post #76
chrisseaton wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve never understood - what do you do if the tally sticks don’t match? You just know there’s a dispute but it doesn’t resolve the dispute does it? So what next?

If the two sticks don't match, then the two parties didn't mutually authenticate and then nothing further happens.You can't even say there's a dispute. You can't say anything.

[deleted]

Re: Lawyers used sheepskin as anti-fraud device for hundreds of years

#87

Post by SamBam »

pwg wrote: post #74
SamBam wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. That's what I said in my middle paragraph. But if I simply throw away my half and make a new half, a court will have no way of knowing which was the original. (Unless each half was signed by both parties.)

> But if I simply throw away my half and make a new half Your new half would not match together in the "split" part of the stick, so one could tell that /someone/ made a new half, but not necessarily which party was the forger.

Right. As I've been saying from the start of the thread.
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