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Speculative evolution is a subgenre of science fiction and an artistic movement focused on hypothetical scenarios in the evolution of life, and a significant form of fictional biology. [1] It is also known as speculative biology [2] and it is referred to as speculative zoology [3] in regards to hypothetical animals. [1]
The English term thought experiment was coined as a calque of Gedankenexperiment, and it first appeared in the 1897 English translation of one of Mach's papers. [11] Prior to its emergence, the activity of posing hypothetical questions that employed subjunctive reasoning had existed for a very long time for both scientists and philosophers.
For example, acting is a profession which predicates real jobs on fictional premises. Charades is a game people play by guessing imaginary objects from short play-acts. Imaginary personalities and histories are sometimes invented to enhance the verisimilitude of fictional universes, and/or the immersion of role-playing games. In the sense that ...
A major theme of science fiction and of speculative biology is to convey a message of optimism or pessimism according to the author's worldview. [5] [6] Whereas optimistic visions of technological progress are common enough in hard science fiction, pessimistic views of the future of humanity are far more usual in fiction based on biology. [4]
Adams interpreted history as a process moving towards "equilibrium", but he saw militaristic nations (he felt Germany pre-eminent in this class) as tending to reverse this process, a Maxwell's demon of history. Adams made many attempts to respond to the criticism of his formulation from his scientific colleagues, but the work remained ...
The word archetype, "original pattern from which copies are made," first entered into English usage in the 1540s. [2] It derives from the Latin noun archetypum, latinization of the Greek noun ἀρχέτυπον (archétypon), whose adjective form is ἀρχέτυπος (archétypos), which means "first-molded", [3] which is a compound of ἀρχή archḗ, "beginning, origin", [4] and ...
Walter Kintsch and Teun A. van Dijk, using the term situation model (in their book Strategies of Discourse Comprehension, 1983), showed the relevance of mental models for the production and comprehension of discourse. Charlie Munger popularized the use of multi-disciplinary mental models for making business and investment decisions. [4]
In science, the concept of a macroscope is the antithesis of the microscope, namely a method, technique or system appropriate to the study of very large objects or very complex processes, for example the Earth and its contents, [1] [2] or conceptually, the Universe. Obviously, a single system or instrument does not presently exist that could ...