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Scientific Spectrumism

The view that scientific categories, species, and phenomena exist on continuous spectra rather than in discrete boxes, and that our classifications are convenient divisions of seamless reality. Species blend into subspecies blend into populations. Elements have isotopes that blur the boundaries. Health and disease exist on a continuum, not a binary. Scientific Spectrumism studies how and why we draw lines through continuous fields, and what we lose when we forget the lines are ours. It's the science of gradients, fuzzy boundaries, and the violence of the discrete.
"Biology keeps arguing about whether this virus is alive. Scientific Spectrumism says: viruses exist on a spectrum between chemistry and life, and your binary question is the problem. Nature doesn't do boxes—it does gradients. Get with the program."
by Abzugal February 23, 2026
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