by neufer » Sat Aug 24, 2013 3:24 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handwaving wrote:
<<Handwaving is a pejorative label applied to the action of displaying the appearance of doing something, when actually doing little, or nothing. For example, it is applied to debate techniques that involve fallacies. It is also used in working situations where productive work is expected, but no work is actually accomplished. Handwaving can be an idiomatic term, and it can also be a literal descriptive term for the use of excessive body language gestures that are associated with a lack of productivity in communication or other effort.
Handwaving arguments often include order-of-magnitude estimates and dimensional consistency. Competent, well-intentioned researchers and professors rely on handwaving when, given a limited time, a large result must be shown and minor technical details cannot be given much attention—e.g., "It can be shown that z is even."
By extension, handwaving is used in speculative fiction criticism to refer to a plot device that is left unexplained or sloppily explained because it is convenient to the story, with the implication that the writer is aware of the logical weakness but hopes the reader will not notice or will suspend disbelief. The fictional material
handwavium/unobtainium is sometimes referred to in situations where the solution requires access to a substance that is physically impossible to create as it defies physics but is convenient to solving a problem in the story.>>
[quote=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handwaving"]
[float=right][img3="[b][color=#0000FF]A small cropped portion of the APOD collage. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech[/color][/b]"]http://astrobob.areavoices.com/files/2013/08/Cassini-montage.jpg[/img3][/float]<<Handwaving is a pejorative label applied to the action of displaying the appearance of doing something, when actually doing little, or nothing. For example, it is applied to debate techniques that involve fallacies. It is also used in working situations where productive work is expected, but no work is actually accomplished. Handwaving can be an idiomatic term, and it can also be a literal descriptive term for the use of excessive body language gestures that are associated with a lack of productivity in communication or other effort.
Handwaving arguments often include order-of-magnitude estimates and dimensional consistency. Competent, well-intentioned researchers and professors rely on handwaving when, given a limited time, a large result must be shown and minor technical details cannot be given much attention—e.g., "It can be shown that z is even."
By extension, handwaving is used in speculative fiction criticism to refer to a plot device that is left unexplained or sloppily explained because it is convenient to the story, with the implication that the writer is aware of the logical weakness but hopes the reader will not notice or will suspend disbelief. The fictional material [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handwavium]handwavium/unobtainium[/url] is sometimes referred to in situations where the solution requires access to a substance that is physically impossible to create as it defies physics but is convenient to solving a problem in the story.>>[/quote]