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January 23, 2006
Metaphors arise from social context
I got this quote from my "a work a day" email
Because we don't understand the brain very well we're constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. (What else could it be?) And I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electromagnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and now, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer. -John R. Searle, philosophy professor (1932- )
Which reminds me about the constellations.
In English, the northern constellations have ancient names like Orion, Taurus, Hercules. This owes to a long tradition of long distance sea navigation. The Southern Hemisphere, where the this tradition only begun a few hundred years ago with the arrival of Europeans is home to Telescopium, Norma (Carpenter's Square), Octans (an aid in navigation), and Pyxis (Compass).
Posted by OneEyedMan at January 23, 2006 9:37 AM
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