اختراع و نوآوریInvention and innovation

Speculating about the past, and what it commits you to

حرف‌زدن از تاریخ و فناوری پر است از استدلال دربارهٔ علت‌هایی که نمی‌توانیم مشاهده کنیم، و وجهی‌های گذشتهٔ درس ۸ دقیقاً برای همین‌اند. شدتش را درست انتخاب کن، چون هرکدام به درجهٔ متفاوتی از قطعیت متعهدت می‌کند. IT MUST HAVE BEEN — بر پایهٔ شواهد تقریباً مطمئنی: «The delay must have been social; the technology was already there.» IT CAN'T HAVE BEEN / COULDN'T HAVE BEEN — تقریباً مطمئنی که نادرست است: «It can't have been a technical problem.» دقت کن که mustn't have اینجا منفیِ آن نیست؛ منفیِ must have همان can't have است. IT MIGHT / MAY / COULD HAVE BEEN — واقعاً نامطمئنی: «It may have been a question of cost.» افزودن well قوی‌ترش می‌کند (might well have been)، افزودن just ضعیف‌ترش. SHOULD HAVE / OUGHT TO HAVE — داری انتظارِ برآورده‌نشده را توصیف می‌کنی، نه حدس: «It should have arrived decades earlier.» دو الگوی دیگر که این موضوع لازم دارد. IT IS THOUGHT / IT IS WIDELY BELIEVED THAT — مجهولِ غیرشخصی که ادعایی را بدون نام‌بردن منبع نسبت می‌دهد. و WHICH SUGGESTS / WHICH IMPLIES به‌عنوان موصولیِ جمله‌ای (درس ۱۷) که دربارهٔ کل جملهٔ پیشین نظر می‌دهد: «…the obstacle was social, which suggests most innovation is about acceptability.»

History and technology talk is full of reasoning about causes we cannot observe, which is exactly what the past modals of lesson 8 are for. Get the strength right, because each one commits you to a different degree of certainty. IT MUST HAVE BEEN — you are nearly certain, on evidence: "The delay must have been social; the technology was already there." IT CAN'T HAVE BEEN / COULDN'T HAVE BEEN — you are nearly certain it is false: "It can't have been a technical problem." Note that mustn't have is NOT the negative here; the negative of must have is can't have. IT MIGHT / MAY / COULD HAVE BEEN — you are genuinely unsure: "It may have been a question of cost." Adding well strengthens it (might well have been), adding just weakens it. SHOULD HAVE / OUGHT TO HAVE — you are describing a failed expectation, not a guess: "It should have arrived decades earlier." Two more patterns this topic needs. IT IS THOUGHT / IT IS WIDELY BELIEVED THAT — the impersonal passive that attributes a claim without naming a source. And WHICH SUGGESTS / WHICH IMPLIES as a sentential relative (lesson 17), commenting on the whole preceding clause: "…the obstacle was social, which suggests most innovation is about acceptability."