De Novo

Definition: to start again; fresh; new

It’s Latin for “from the beginning” or “anew.”

Why I Looked It Up

From Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society:

Another rich source of online data on de novo societies and features of the social suite are the massive multiplayer games involving hundreds of thousands of people.

The book is interested in identifying the characteristics of societies, so a “new” (de novo) society is a valuable thing to study.

Separately, in Knowledge and Power:

Academic scientists of any sort expect to be struck by lightning if they celebrate real creation de novo in the world. One does not expect modern scientists to address creation by God.

I have no idea what the author was getting at there (I did not enjoy that book).