Counterfactual History

…is when you deliberately make things up to ask questions about processes, rather than accidentally make things up.

It’s a major subject in this week’s New Scientist, which asks a variety of questions:

• the Nazis had won;

• Newton had abandoned science;

• electric motors had pre-dated steam engines;

• Darwin had not sailed on the Beagle;

• Charles II had no interest in science;

• a young Einstein had been ignored?

I mention it as the introductory article: What if…? Exploring alternative scientific pasts is available for free on the New Scientist website.

and while I remember, I’ll also plug the Skeptic’s Circle for this week.