[FRIAM] A bold meteorological theory

[glen]

I suppose it depends on the structure of the space. If all roads lead to Rome, then it doesn't matter. Any set of lies will do just fine. But if it's pathological, then hopping roads is a necessary skill. I make no claims to that metaphysical knowledge. I'm only pointing out that metaphor is a neutral tool, not something to be ogled in awe. Metaphor is no more nor less fascinating than, say, a spatula. If I had a friend who constantly yapped about how cool their spatula was ... and every conversation wound down to spatula this and spatula that, I'd have to push back a bit and say that not everything's about your spatula. Please talk about something else.

Whether the spatula is used for ill or good depends on the wielder.

On 3/16/26 12:16 PM, Marcus Daniels wrote:
> Different canals could be in frustration, so I suppose it isn’t quite as bad as you say?
> 
> *From: *Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> on behalf of glen <gepropella at gmail.com>
> *Date: *Monday, March 16, 2026 at 11:45 AM
> *To: *friam at redfish.com <friam at redfish.com>
> *Subject: *Re: [FRIAM] A bold meteorological theory
> 
> I don't see how that could be true. At best, metaphor is a means to keep one in a canal *and* a means of escaping a canal. And that it's both means neither usage is a property of metaphor. I think it's better to state that metaphor is a means of escaping *reality* ... to say things that are not true ... lying, falsehood.
> 
> Of course, some lies/falsehoods can be good. When a science popularizer lies about, say, entanglement in order to provide *some* type of intuition the laity demands ... maybe that's a good thing. The liar may justify their lies in claiming that lie set A is "better" than lie set B. (Or maybe it's a bad thing.) But metaphor is a liar's tool. Attempts to rehabilitate it are the essence of postmodernism (at least as *that* concept is bastardized by the laity).
> 
> Of course, those of us who are OK with being called a _liar_ have no problem with this. But there are those amongst us who blanch at being called a liar even as they lie, the epitome of Bad Faith, reflective or not.
> 
> On 3/16/26 11:04 AM, Prof David West wrote:
>> Metaphorically stated, unfortunately: a metaphor is just a means for escaping local minima and channelization.
>> 
>> davew
>> 
>> 
>> On Mon, Mar 16, 2026, at 8:55 AM, glen wrote:
>>> That's some good advice, there. Narratives like the naked Emperor are
>>> crucial tools for posers and con men. Each and every metaphor you
>>> identify in a missive is evidence of the authors' (plural possessive -
>>> no such thing as a sole author) Bad Faith. And the number of metaphors
>>> is directly correlated with the extent of the Bad Faith.
>>>
>>> None of us are innocent. None of us are the child in the narrative.
>>> It's a venomous fiction, injected by the fangs of the storyteller. Even
>>> literal babies bring along their own "genetic memory", in utero
>>> accretion, biases, and expertise. The story, that story and all others,
>>> is there to persuade, to trick you, to canalize you into thinking in
>>> some particular set of ways.
>>>
>>> Now I'd like you to stop thinking about elephants.
>>>
>>> On 3/15/26 10:17 AM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
>>>> Perhaps I should just drop the metaphor and speak to the beliefs the metaphor represents to me. Expertise both sights and blinds us; great expertise sights and blinds us greatly.
>>> -- 
-- 
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