NL888 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
If speculative?
Does "if speculative" mean "if venture/take some risk to speak"?
Context:
The origin of life is a flourishing, if speculative, subject for
research. The expertise required for it is chemistry and it is not
mine. I watch from the sidelines with engaged curiosity, and I shall
not be surprised if, within the next few years, chemists report that
they have successfully midwifed a new origin of life in the
laboratory. Nevertheless it hasn't happened yet, and it is still
possible to maintain that the probability of its happening is, and
always was, exceedingly low - although it did happen once!
Context:
The origin of life is a flourishing, if speculative, subject for
research. The expertise required for it is chemistry and it is not
mine. I watch from the sidelines with engaged curiosity, and I shall
not be surprised if, within the next few years, chemists report that
they have successfully midwifed a new origin of life in the
laboratory. Nevertheless it hasn't happened yet, and it is still
possible to maintain that the probability of its happening is, and
always was, exceedingly low - although it did happen once!
Top answer
It means we can only speculate about the origin of life; we were not there when it happened, so we cannot prove our theses scientifically. The subject is therefore a speculative one.
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It means we can only speculate about the origin of life; we were not there when it happened, so we cannot prove our theses scientifically.
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