Greetings!
Recently we have had our discussions described as pedantic and speculative.


pedantic
Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules.

speculation
1. a. Contemplation or consideration of a subject; meditation; contemplation of a profound nature. b. A conclusion, an opinion, or a theory reached by conjecture. c. Reasoning based on inconclusive evidence; conjecture or supposition.


Sometimes going to the book is instructive. The term speculate has been eroded over the years to mean "wooly thinking", but formerly it described the true nature of human thought, which was an intelligent looking into a problem -- precisely the one thing that humans (and not machines) are capable of doing. If we don't do the thinking, we must depend on the conclusions of others, who may be engaged in the other kind of speculation:

2. Engagement in risky business transactions on the chance of quick or considerable profit.


Peter Borst
Ithaca NY  USA