Effects of Homeopathy on technology in the Bronze Age
What would be the most significant impacts on bronze-age technology if the basic principles behind homeopathy worked?
Let's say, that during the bronze age, some crafty philosopher discovered, that the following laws apply to the world:
* Like cures like: Any material can negate a property in a similiar material. This effect only aplies if the two materials are clearly distinctive entities. (e.g. A single piece of wood burns, a pile of wood blocks doesn't burn because the wood negates its own flameability, a single massive cube of wood burns because it's only one entity). Curiously, distinctiveness seems to be defined in a way that is congruent with human perception (e.g. a pile of sand is one entity, a plant is one entity, ...).
* Effects become stronger through dilution: When any material is diluted (but kept distinct) in another base, it effects become stronger, including those effects that are part of these laws. Limits: It only works as long as something of the original substance remains in the dilution. The growth in effectivenes drops off (halving the concentration doubles the effect, quartering the concentration leads to 2.5 times the effectivenes...).
* Materials keep a memory: Through proximity (idealy submersion), materials take on attributes of each other. 205
This effect works in both direction. (e.g. covering a block of iron in cloth makes the cloth harder, and the iron softer). (Breathable) Air doesn't keep a memory, and there are probably other "insulators" (gold?). The memory can only be passed on from a primary to a secondary source (Iron can harden cloth, hardened cloth can't harden a second bale of cloth). Any entity can only hold one memory, if it is exposed to a new source, the new memory will gradualy erode, and then override the old memory. The strength of a memory is dependent on the time of exposure.
Additional Rule: Anything that is "part of the earth" isn't affected by these laws, as long as it remains part of the earth (e.g. ore doesn't take on rock memories).
It can be assumed that the underlying structure for these rules to be possible exists (e.g. there are probably elements as ancient philosophers understood them), but real world physics still apply if not in direct contradiction with these laws. 561