phlogiston

One day we may discover that some of our most cherished forms of knowledge are as obsolete as epicycles, phlogiston, caloric, the electromagnetic aether and, indeed, Newtonian physics.

These include: wishful thinking, hearsay, phlogiston, alchemy, divination, Magic 8 Ball, séance, witchcraft, fake news, sorcery, transmutation, quackery, ballyhoo, Ouija Board, smoke and mirrors and bigly, among others.

After over 30 years of “intellectual regress”, the study of booms and busts now reminds him of a lipstick-wearing pig or an obsolete scientific embarrassment like the phlogiston theory of fire.

In macroeconomics the problem is especially bad: we’re better than chemistry was when it was still considering phlogiston but not as advanced as physics is, say, with nuclear reactions and decay.

Characters are equipped with a “lilium orb”, a piece of applied phlogiston which arrays bonuses to their character statistics along a spider-web pattern.