[FRIAM] The "Metaphor" Sting: The scorpion speaks

[Frank Wimberly]

p.s.  Have a wonderful trip and a pleasant summer in New Braintree+

---
Frank C. Wimberly
140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
Santa Fe, NM 87505

505 670-9918
Santa Fe, NM

On Mon, May 10, 2021, 12:13 PM Frank Wimberly <wimberly3 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dear Nick,
>
> This is not an effort to develop an algebra of metaphors but to channel
> Hywel as well as I can.  You have often seized on his saying something like
> "When a photon hits an electron orbiting a the nucleus of an atom it is
> bumped to a higher state but it wants to return to it's original state."
> You are charmed by this use of the word "wants".  If you said to Hywel,
> "come on, electrons don't have desires", I think he would say, "Of course
> not.  In that situation the electron would, with high probability, return
> to its original state within a nanosecond.  To say that it "wants to" is an *entirely
> unnecessary* metaphor that captures both the near inevitability and the
> rapidity of the occurrence in colorful language."
>
>
>
> ---
> Frank C. Wimberly
> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz,
> Santa Fe, NM 87505
>
> 505 670-9918
> Santa Fe, NM
>
> On Mon, May 10, 2021, 11:29 AM <thompnickson2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi, everybody.
>>
>>
>>
>> Let me just say that raising metaphoric nature of a conversation during a
>> conversation is not an attempt to  the Frog.   It is always done because
>> the scorpion senses that the frog is swimming in circles and has lost sight
>> both of the river and the bank.  I long to have a conversation about the
>> metaphoric nature of scientific thought.  I long to analyze scientific
>> metaphors with you all.  What is a good metaphor, what is a bad one.  What
>> is a strong metaphor, what is a weak one.  How does this metaphor alert us
>> to some possibilities, blind us to others.  What expectations does this
>> metaphor lead us to other than the facts that inspired it?  What is the
>> relation between “popular” books and rigorous exposition.  It cannot be
>> that such books are only “sloppy” representations of how Scientists really
>> think.  I come from a field which was guided for 40 years by the metaphor
>> of The Selfish Gene, which was presented in a popular book which was read
>> and cited by thousands of practitioners in the field.)
>>
>>
>>
>> I don’t expect (or even hope for) any response now.  But I would like you
>> to ponder for the future what the role of the scorpion is in a
>> conversation.  And here, we see, where the analysis of my metaphor might be
>> useful.   Is the scorpion ever useful to the frog?  Perhaps the scorpion
>> should be conceived as a honey-bee who serves up sugary snacks when the
>> frog flags at mid river.  I think there is an algebra of metaphoric thought
>> and we need to make it explicit and understand it better.   Is there a role
>> for scorpions in an intellectual ecosystem?
>>
>>
>>
>> All the best and have a wonderful summer,
>>
>>
>>
>> Nick Thompson
>>
>> ThompNickSon2 at gmail.com
>>
>> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
>>
>>
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>
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