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Electrolyzing the Etymology of Azeroth
#1
Hello, CoTH. Recently (a few seconds ago) a conundrum came to me - to elaborate, I was thinking of an Orc Mage, one who turned away from the savage war waged because of his study of the Socratic Method. Then, it came to me - how WOULD people of Azeroth know of the Socratic Method?

Then, an even GREATER conundrum came to me - how would the people of Azeroth even understand basic terms? Algebra wasn't created in Azeroth, it was created in the dark, mystifying place known as IRL. How could simple machines such as tanks, planes, even bombs, even GUNS exist without the fundamental understandings of the laws of thermodynamics, aerodynamics and such, as these weren't created in Azeroth? Military movements would be impossibly predictable, because of the lack of knowledge gained from books such as Sun Tzu or Frederick the Great.

Are people IC supposed to consider these as a... deus ex machina, or is there a true solution somewhere? Or am I reading too deeply into things and need to take up drinking to stop my brain thinking?
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#2
I personally am of the belief that either
1) These things were invented pre-Sundering by either the Highborne, Kaldorei or any of the other race at the time. Before you brush this off as prejudice, from what we know of the time, a lot of effort was put into exploring new avenues of learning. I wouldn't be surprised if things like modern math and stuff. Plus (at least to me), it's pretty obvious that the Highborne were based off the Greeks/Romans, so to me it's obvious that they would invent most of these things. This is supported by the existence of various things that we would consider high technology, like Mana Bombs (Probably the Azerothian equivalent of Nukes), are possessed by the descendants of the Highborne.

2) The Titans gave these gifts to (some of) the races they left behind, and these have been passed down since then, likely by the Earthen. This, however, would leave a large gap with a huge lack in learning, as well as a huge lack where as distinct and different forms of architecture. However, it is supported by the fact that the Dwarves and Gnomes, some of the closest relatives to races left by the Titans, are some of the handsiest people on the planet. This is also supported by the fact that Gnomes (if I remember correctly) were only discovered 250 years ago, yet are one of the most technologically advanced people on the planet.
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#3
If you pay enough attention while crafting/questing there are little references to understandings of mathematics. There is a clear foundation of knowledge in Azeroth that Blizzard, as they do with many things, hasn't fully explained. I agree with FlyingSquirrel. The Earthen and the Highborne are likely to have discovered them, along with the Gnomes and Goblins making more recent advancements. Hell, even the ancient Trolls had architecture so they probably had math too.
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#4
...Why wouldn't there be such concepts as "algebraic principles" or "trigonometric methods"?

We have tanks and flying fortresses and war galleons and steamboats rocking the world. There's a subway that spans continents and seas. There are teleportation machines in every Goblin city.

While one might argue that mathematics is starkly uncommon among more common men, I'm sure the educated or at least engineers are into it. You'd have a hard time saying it doesn't exist.

...

However, no, you wouldn't go around claiming that someone did this or that with the "Socratic Method" because there is no Socrates in the world of Warcraft. ...That I know of. (And he certainly isn't famous.)

I usually see someone take the creative liberty of substituting the names in our history with the names in Azeroth's, or concoct completely different ways of referring to something. You have all the rest of English at your disposal, don't you?
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#5
Not to necro, but I just stumbled on this.

Being a southerner I do so love my analogies, idioms, metaphors and similes. I came across a conundrum of my own, a while back, concerning one particularly obscure saying. I forget the specifics of it. Something equally southern to "[he's so useless] If he had a third hand he'd need an extra pocket to stick it in," but I realized that the saying probably wouldn't be recognized in Azeroth. I asked around about what to do for a bit, and was told just to let it fly, the players would get it, and even if the exact words didn't fit the context of WoW, the message did. So when it comes to something easily recognizable like the Pythagorean theorem, I think sometimes it's easier not to substitute a name, simply use the term "Pythagorean theorem" and assume that your character would have fit in the correct name. Ted's Theorem, or whatever. Maybe that's disagreeable to some, but I've never minded it too much.

It's certainly much easier than ICly saying "Oh, you know, Dave's Theorem." then having to explain OOCly just what name you're swapping, or ICly saying "You know, Dave's Theorem. A squared plus B squared equals C squared? Dave's Theorem? Ah, come on guys, you know the one!" then goddess forbid somebody else comes along the next few days toting on about "Ricky's Theorem, you know, A squared plus B squared equals C squared? Ricky's Theorem! You know, Ricky?"

My two cents.
[Image: tle2012sportsliridontar.gif]
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