hand waving

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Handwaving is a pejorative label applied to the action of displaying the appearance of doing something, when actually doing little, or nothing. For example, it is applied to debate techniques that involve logical fallacies. It is also used in working situations where productive work is expected, but no work is actually accomplished. Handwaving can be an idiomatic term, and it can also be a literal descriptive term for the use of excessive body language gestures that are associated with a lack of productivity in communication or other effort.

The superlative expressions for the term, such as "vigorous handwaving" or "furious handwaving", are used to imply that the handwaver lacks confidence in the information being conveyed, and cannot actually convey the essence or core of his argument.

Science and engineering

Handwaving arguments often include order-of-magnitude estimates and dimensional consistency. Competent, well-intentioned researchers and professors rely on handwaving when, given a limited time, a large result must be shown and minor technical details cannot be given much attention—e.g., "It can be shown that z is even."

Back-of-the-envelope calculations are approximate ways to get an answer by over-simplification and are compatible with handwaving.

Literary criticism

By extension, handwaving is used in speculative fiction criticism to refer to a plot device (e.g., a scientific discovery, a political development, or rules governing the behavior of a fictional creature) that is left unexplained or sloppily explained because it is convenient to the story, with the implication that the writer is aware of the logical weakness but hopes the reader will not notice or will suspend disbelief. (Compare the hand waving in a Jedi mind trick, where the author is the Jedi, and the audience is the one affected by the trick.) The fictional material handwavium is sometimes referred to in situations where the solution requires access to a substance that is physically impossible to create as it defies physics but is convenient to solving a problem in the story. (See also unobtainium, which would probably be possible to create, but only by a great deal of research, development, time, effort, or money, none of which the speaker intends to explain at the moment.)

The term has come to be used in role-playing games to describe actions and conversations that are quickly glossed over, rather than acted out in full according to the rules; This may be done to keep from bogging down the play of the game with time-consuming but minor technical details.

Debate

Handwaving is also occasionally used in informal debate or discussion. If the opponent in a debate uses the term, it is meant as a shorthand way to accuse the proponent in the debate of having committed a logical fallacy. In this sense, it is also as if a participant is waving their hands to obscure clear debate, as a verbal or logical smoke screen.

The proponents in a debate might also use the term "handwaving" against themselves, in the same sense as a speculative fiction author, as noted above. When the proponents use this term, they are exposing to the opponent that they know the portion of their argument to which the term is being applied is weak. "Vigorous handwaving" or "furious handwaving" may also be used to indicate a very weak argument. In an unplanned or informal discussion or debate, the proponent may have little or no preparation. The proponents in the debate can use the word "handwaving" as a way to indicate that while they believe a statement is true, they cannot prove the argument at this time. Even in an informal debate, the phrase is only used to an intermediate step or ancillary issue, never the primary subject matter or end conclusion. Use of the term indicates that the proponent wishes to exclude from the debate discussion of the weak point in order to discuss a more central or important issue.

See also

• "And then a miracle occurs" by Sidney Harris, published in American Scientist magazine (ISBN 0-913232-39-4).
• Criticism of religion
• Gnomes (South Park)
• Unobtainium

References

• handwave, in the Jargon File
• James Lavin Proving almost anything IEEE Potentials February/March 1996, pp. 6–7.