Tangible Sciences

The study of phenomena that can be touched, handled, and manipulated directly—the sciences of the material world. Tangible sciences include classical engineering (bridges you can walk on), materials science (metals you can hold), and most of biology as applied to things you can pick up (rocks, plants, dead things). These sciences are satisfying because you can feel your results—a stronger beam, a purer crystal, a heavier rock. They're also increasingly supplemented by intangible sciences, which study things you can't touch but can still affect you. Tangible sciences are what we evolved to understand; intangible sciences are what we built to go beyond our evolutionary limits.

Example: "He chose tangible sciences because he liked making things he could hold—alloys, ceramics, composite materials. His office was full of samples: a titanium rod here, a carbon fiber sheet there. When his colleagues in theoretical physics talked about strings and branes, he showed them a piece of metal he'd made. They were impressed, though neither understood the other's work."

by Dumu The Void February 16, 2026

Intangible Sciences

The study of phenomena that cannot be directly touched or handled—fields, forces, information, consciousness, and the other invisible actors that shape reality. Intangible sciences include electromagnetism (you can't touch a magnetic field, but it can move you), information theory (you can't hold a bit, but it shapes everything), and most of modern physics (fields are real but intangible). These sciences require instruments to detect their subjects and mathematics to describe them; they're abstract, counterintuitive, and essential to modern life. Your phone works because of intangible sciences; your GPS works because of them; your understanding of the universe would be medieval without them. Intangible sciences are the ghost in the machine of reality—you can't see them, but you can't explain anything without them.

Example: "She studied intangible sciences—electromagnetic fields, quantum information, the nature of consciousness. Her father asked what she actually did all day. She said 'I think about things you can't touch.' He asked if that was a real job. She pointed to his phone, his GPS, his medical imaging—all products of intangible sciences. He conceded that maybe thinking about untouchable things had its uses."

by Dumu The Void February 16, 2026

Multiverse Sciences

The collective disciplines that study the multiverse from every angle—multiverse physics, multiverse cosmology, multiverse biology (speculative), multiverse sociology (even more speculative). Multiverse sciences ask the biggest questions: Are there other universes? What are they like? Could we ever reach them? Do they contain life? How would we know? These sciences are at the farthest edge of human inquiry, where evidence is thin and imagination is essential. They're also where science meets philosophy, where testability gives way to coherence, where the goal is not proof but understanding. Multiverse sciences are for those who would rather ask big questions than settle for small answers.

Example: "He devoted his life to multiverse sciences, knowing he'd never have evidence, never prove anything, never convince skeptics. But he believed that understanding the multiverse—even speculatively—was worth doing. It expanded the mind, challenged assumptions, reminded us that our universe is not all there is. That was enough."

by Dumu The Void February 17, 2026

Critical Sciences

An umbrella term for scientific fields that have developed explicit critical traditions examining their own assumptions, methods, and social implications. Critical psychology questions its normalizing function. Critical geography examines how space produces power. Critical neuroscience asks who benefits from brain research. These aren't separate fields but self-aware versions of existing disciplines—sciences that have taken the critical turn and incorporated reflexivity into their core practice.

"Mainstream economics assumes rational actors and efficient markets. Critical Economics asks: whose rationality? Whose efficiency? Who benefits from these assumptions? Critical Sciences are what happen when a discipline grows up and starts questioning its own premises."

by Abzugal February 23, 2026

Social Sciences of the Scientific Method

The empirical study of how the scientific method is actually practiced—not as an ideal, but as a messy human activity. Social Sciences of the Scientific Method examines how methods vary across disciplines, how they're learned, how they're enforced, how they change. It reveals that "the scientific method" is a textbook ideal; real science uses multiple methods, adapted to context, shaped by community norms. Understanding this helps bridge the gap between philosophy of method and actual practice.

"Your textbook says there's one scientific method. Social sciences of the scientific method says: go look in actual labs—you'll find many methods, adapted, improvised, negotiated. The ideal is neat; the reality is messy. Social science shows you the mess."

by Dumu The Void March 2, 2026

Social Sciences of Epistemology

The empirical study of how knowledge is actually produced, validated, and contested in human communities—not just how it should be. Social Sciences of Epistemology examines knowledge practices across cultures, institutions, and historical periods. It reveals that what counts as knowledge varies, that justification is social, that knowers are always situated. It's epistemology grounded in empirical study of real knowing—not just armchair reflection.

"Epistemology says knowledge requires justification. Social sciences of epistemology asks: justification to whom? By what standards? In what community? Knowledge isn't abstract; it's always knowledge-for-someone, knowledge-in-a-community. Social science shows the 'someone' that philosophy forgets."

by Dumu The Void March 2, 2026

Social Sciences of Knowledge

The broad empirical study of knowledge as a social phenomenon—how it's created, shared, contested, and preserved across societies. Social Sciences of Knowledge includes sociology of knowledge, anthropology of knowledge, history of knowledge, and science and technology studies. It examines how power shapes knowledge, how institutions validate it, how communities maintain it, how technologies transform it. It's the study of knowing as a human activity, in all its messy social reality.

"You think knowledge is just true belief. Social sciences of knowledge asks: then why do different societies have different knowledge? Why does knowledge change? Why do some knowers get believed and others ignored? Knowledge is social, and social science shows how. Not to relativize, but to understand."

by Dumu The Void March 2, 2026