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Topic
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Topics (also Tech or Innovations) are part of knowledge.
There are around 300 innovations that can be discovered. Many of them have requirements, and many do not, so it's kind of a tech forest/grassland rather than a tree. Notably missing are innovations related to practical labors in the game (which will be added later in development).
Several innovations require innovations from other branches, and since all knowledge is individually tracked, that implies some investigators will need to be at least well-read if not skilled in various topics (there aren't currently joint research projects). There are some old and new mechanisms in place to ensure this happens.
There are 9 "branches" of the knowledge system.
Astronomy
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Geocentrism | The theory that the sun moves around the world |
| Heliocentrism | The theory that the world moves around the sun |
| The variation of daylight with the season | |
| The rise of the sun according to the season | |
| The phases of the moon | |
| The path of the moon | |
| The rise of the moon according to the season | |
| The relationship between the moon and the tides | |
| The height of the tides, the moon and the sun | |
| The relationship between the lunar and solar year | |
| Astrography | The creation of star charts |
| Methods of empirical observation in astronomy | |
| Astrolabe | The construction and use of the astrolabe |
Chemistry
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| The preparation and use of adhesive materials | |
| The classification of ores | |
| The theory and methods involved in evaporation | |
| The classification of materials based on which elemental materials might form them | |
| Methods for performing experiments systematically in the laboratory | |
| The construction and use of the ampoule | |
| The Vial | The construction and use of the vial |
| The construction and use of the alembic | |
| The mixture of metals to produce alloys | |
| Liquid Extraction | The theory and methods involved in the extraction of a constituent liquid from one solution to another |
| The construction and use of the blast furnace | |
| The construction and use of the retort | |
| The classification of alkali and acids | |
| The construction and use of the beaker | |
| Oil of Vitriol | The preparation of oil of vitriol |
| The construction and use of the crucible | |
| The theory and methods involved in distillation | |
| The construction and use of laboratory ovens |
Engineering
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| The Pulley | The construction and use of the pulley |
| The Lever | The construction and use of the lever The reasons why the lever is effective |
| The Windlass | The construction and use of the windlass |
| The Screw | The construction and use of the screw |
| Models and Templates | The use of models and templates in engineering |
| The Warded Lock | The construction and use of the warded lock |
| The Tumbler Lock | The construction and use of the tumbler lock |
| The Siphon | The action of the siphon |
| Gear Mechanics Gears |
The reasons why gears are effective |
| The Crystal Lens | The construction and use of the crystal lens |
| The Funnel | The construction and use of the funnel |
| The Glass Lens | The construction and use of the glass lens |
| The Camera Obscura | The construction and use of the camera obscura |
| The construction and use of valves | |
| The construction and use of the bellows | |
| The construction and use of the straight-beam balance | |
| The Wedge | The reasons why the wedge is effective |
| The use of water-based devices to tell time | |
| The use of lamination | |
| The Wheel-and-axle | The reasons why the wheel-and-axle construction is effective |
| The reasons why pulleys are effective | |
| The reasons why screws are effective | |
| Screws within Reason | The construction and use of the screw |
| The construction and use of the padlock | |
| The reasons why the lever is effective | |
| The construction and use of water-filled sphere as a lens | |
| Water Clock Reservoirs | The use of reservoirs in water-based clocks to improve their accuracy |
| Shadow Clocks | The use of shadows to tell direction and time |
Differential gears are a difficult innovation and a prerequisite for pointing chariots and astrariums.
Geography
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Surveying | The process of surveying land |
| Surveying staff | The construction and use of the surveying staff |
| Anemology | The forces that govern wind patterns |
| Econometrics | The process of economic data collection |
| The placement of economic information on maps | |
| Water cycle | The origin of rainfall through evaporation and condensation |
| A world-wide cycle involving precipitation, oceans, rivers, and other forms of water | |
| Cartography | The process involved in creating maps |
| Atlases | The collection of maps and other information together into a single text |
| The process of the formation of deltas at the mouths of rivers | |
| The placement of geological information on maps |
The geography innovations include several related to cartography.
History
Innovations for historians are, in part, writing forms like biography, and then any historian that reads a biography can start writing them as well. Innovations include comparative biographies describing multiple people, and matters of sourcing, etc.
Historians can start to understand how cultural differences and state bias affects source reliability and think a bit about social forces.
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Historical causation | The causes of historical events |
| Archaeology | The method of collecting and evaluating artifacts to learn about history and culture |
| Diachronic archaeology | The method of examining artifacts to determine how techniques have changed over time |
| Cultural history | The method of accurately and comprehensively describing cultures and civilizations |
| Comparative anthropology | The method of comparing and contrasting different cultures |
| Source reliability | The reliability of sources |
| Personal interviews | Using personal interviews as sources |
| Biography | The method of writing the history of a single individual |
| Autobiography | The method of writing a biography of oneself, particularly as it concerns a military campaign or adventure |
| Biographical dictionaries | The compilation of brief biographies into one large collection |
| Comparative biography | The method of compiling several biographies to compare and contrast the subjects' character and to gain insight into history |
| Cultural relativism | The role of cultural differences in source reliability and interpretation |
| Genealogy | The compilation of family lineages and methods of displaying them artfully |
| Alternate history | The exploration of how history would be different if some key past events had transpired differently |
| Sociology | The notion of bonds between members of a community |
| The notion of historical, governmental and social cycles |
Mathematics
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Place values | Positional notation |
| The idea of using symbolic notation for addition | |
| Large Sums | Simple formulas for certain arbitrarily large sums |
| Equations | The technique of balancing and completion for solving equations |
| Scientific notation | Notation for very large numbers |
| Negative numbers | Notation for negative quantities |
| Zero | A symbol for nothingness |
| Division | An algorithm for dividing one number into another, possibly yielding a remainder |
| The divergence of the harmonic series | |
| Quadratic formula | A formula which solves quadratic equations |
| Completing the square | The solving of quadratic equations by completion of the square |
| Basic geometry | Geometric objects: points, lines, circles, triangles, and so on |
| The computation of the volume of different pyramids | |
| The computation of the volume of a cone | |
| The computation of the volume of a sphere | |
| The computation of the surface area of a sphere | |
| The properties of similar and congruent triangles | |
| Geometric mean | The relationship between the length of the altitude of a right triangle and the lengths of the segments into which it divides the hypotenuse |
| The equality of the base angle of isosceles triangles | |
| The angles of triangles inscribed in a circle with one edge on the diameter | |
| The unique decomposition of a number into products of its prime divisors | |
| A triangular configuration of numbers relating to the successive powers of any sum | |
| Chords | The properties of chords |
| Chord tables | A table of chord lengths indexed by angle |
| Sum-difference trig identities | Trigonometric identities relating to the sums and differences of angles |
| Pythagorean Theorem | The relationship between the lengths of the hypotenuse of a right triangle and the other two sides |
| Pythagorean triples | Examples of triples of small whole numbers which, when taken together, are the lengths of the sides of a right triangle |
| Examples of triples of large whole numbers which, when taken together, are the lengths of the sides of a right triangle | |
| Examples of triples of very large whole numbers which, when taken together, are the lengths of the sides of a right triangle | |
| The relationship between the half chords of a triangle's angles, the opposite side lengths, and the diameter of the triangle's circumscribed circle | |
| Irrational numbers | The existence of incommensurable ratios |
| Irrationality of root 2 | A proof that the length of a diagonal of a square is incommensurable with its edge |
| Approximation of root 2 | An approximation for the length of the diagonal of a square |
| Existence of pi | The relationship between the area of a circle and its radius, involving the ratio of the circumference of the circle to its diameter |
| Method of exhaustion | An approximation of the ratio of a circumference of a circle to its diameter, using the area of polygons and the method of exhaustion |
| Conic sections | The categorization and properties of conic sections |
| The area enclosed by a parabola and a line | |
| Algebra | Notation for abbreviating the unknown and other elements of an equation in a systematic and useful fashion |
| Systems of equations | Methods of solving systems of equations |
| Methods for solving certain equations involving powers higher than the quadratic | |
| Axioms | Axiomatic reasoning |
| Proof by contradiction | The method of proof by contradiction |
| Euclid's Theorem | A proof that there are infinitely many prime numbers |
| Euclidean Algorithm | An algorithm for computing the greatest common divisor of two numbers |
| An algorithm for computing a number which has given remainders when divided by several given primes |
Medical science
Medical innovations include dedicated hospitals with specialized wards, staffing, medical labs and treatment for many illnesses.
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Incision | The surgical method of incision |
| Excision | The surgical method of excision |
| Suturing | The surgical method of suturing |
| Draining | The surgical method of draining |
| Scraping | The surgical method of scraping |
| Probing | The surgical method of probing |
| Ligature | The surgical method of ligature |
| Bandages | The method of bandaging wounds |
| The treatment of fractures | |
| Traumatic injuries | The treatment of traumatic injuries |
| Veterinary medicine | The diseases of creatures |
| Herbal remedies | Herbal remedies |
| Mineral remedies | Mineral remedies |
| Pathology | The classification of disease |
| Toxicology | The classification of toxic substances |
| The classification of fractures | |
| The classification of bodily fluids | |
| Cauterization | |
| Anesthesia | |
| The use of practice models in surgery | |
| The use of mud bags as surgical models | |
| The use of animals as surgical models | |
| The use of specialized surgical instruments | |
| Needles | The construction and use of surgical needles |
| Anatomical studies | Anatomical studies for medical edification |
| The anatomy of the eye | |
| Disease and fouled water | The connection between disease and fouled water |
| The method of physical examination in diagnosing illness | |
| Prognosis | Determining the likely outcome given a patient's current status |
| The notion of the exacerbation of a patient's condition | |
| Pulmonary medicine | |
| Remedies prepared from animals | |
| Cutting for stone | The lithotomy surgery |
| Tracheotomy | The tracheotomy surgery |
| Hernia surgery | |
| The distinction between acute and chronic conditions | |
| Epidemiology | The theory of epidemic disease |
| The notion of paroxysm |
Natural science
Toady on natural science innovations:
And so on through the other seven branches - there are innovations in naturalist writings, for example, and then they can investigate specific critters with those in mind when they get down to work observing foraging behavior or performing dissections.
Naturalists can build a theory of rainbows using water-filled spheres and a camera obscura, and they can calculate the height of the atmosphere based on atmospheric refraction using the law of refraction (though it tries not to get into the actual shape of the world, since that might vary).
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Physical taxonomy | The classification of creatures by their physical features |
| Climactic adaptation | The way that creatures are suited to the climates in which they live |
| Migration | The migratory patterns of creatures |
| Foraging behavior | The foraging behavior and diet of creatures |
| Reproductive behavior | The reproductive behavior of creatures |
| Social behavior | The social behavior of creatures |
| Dissection | The dissection of creatures |
| Embryology | The embriological development of creatures |
| The struggle for survival among creatures | |
| Anatomy | The anatomical study of creatures |
Philosophy
The specific view that a philosopher takes on, say, the nature of beauty or methods of education will depend on their individual/cultural values, where they apply, and a philosopher that encounters a philosophy book on beauty can then provide their own take (having acquired the innovation).
Toady on philosophy innovations:
For fields like philosophy, I've tried not to make judgments about which ideas are "right" or anything like that, but rather which subjects can be thought about at all.
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Value Agendas | Writers can push value "agendas" if they are skilled enough.
Description format: The [worthlessness | value | nature] of [belief] Examples:
|
| Interpersonal Ethics | Discourse on ethics as applied to interpersonal conduct |
| Causation | The nature of causation |
| Discourse on diplomacy | |
| Discourse on the meaning of individual happiness | |
| Discourse on economic policy | |
| Discourse on ethics as it regards the benefit of the state | |
| Discourse on the nature of perception | |
| Discourse on the nature of justification | |
| The relationship between objects and their properties | |
| Discourse on the nature of time | |
| Discourse on the nature of mind and body | |
| Discourse on ethics as applied to war | |
| Discourse on the nature of beauty | |
| Discourse on law | |
| Grammar | Grammar |
| Discourse on government | |
| Dictionaries | |
| Formal Reasoning | Formal reasoning |
| Discourse on social welfare | |
| Discourse on the nature of events | |
| Education | Education, its forms and recommendations |
| Discourse on the nature of belief | |
| Discourse on medical ethics | |
| Whole and Parts | The relationship between wholes and parts |
| The notion of etymology | |
| Social Welfare | Social welfare, its forms and recommendations |
| Economic policy, its forms and recommendations | |
| Syllogistic logic | |
| Hypothetical syllogisms | |
| Deductive reasoning |
Unknown/unsorted
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Dictionaries | |
| Water Displacement | A precise description of buoyancy and water displacement |