English has two categories of verbs: intransitive and transitive.

If you use an intransitive verb — “yet it moves” — the Metaphor Nazi will catch 
you coming: claiming you are representing volition.

If you use a transitive verb — “it is moved by gravity” — the Metaphor Nazi 
will catch you going: claiming an agent/patient relation, where the agent is 
probably (metaphorically) God (!), or whatever God is a metaphor for.  

And we have from Ecclesiastes (the verse in praise of the Metaphor Nazi):
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/59.html#:~:text=If%20there%20be%20nothing%20new%20(1)%3A%20Compare%20Ecclesiastes%201.9,new%20thing%20under%20the%20sun.%22
 <http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/59.html#:~:text=If there be nothing 
new (1): Compare Ecclesiastes 1.9,new thing under the sun.">
Ecclesiastes 1.9: "The thing that hath been is that which shall be; and that 
which hath been done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing 
under the sun."

To which the scientist (note small “s”) would like to assert “the language of 
mechanics is not English; speaking it is a new practice available to people to 
participate in”.

But let Shakespeare have the last word:

If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguil'd,
Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss
The second burthen of a former child!
O, that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done!
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we are mended, or whe'r better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
O! sure I am, the wits of former days
To subjects worse have given admiring praise.

Eric


> On May 9, 2021, at 11:36 AM, Prof David West <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> The ball accelerated is clearly a metaphor as it implies that the ball is 
> doing a specific thing, that the ball has behavior and probably volition. 
> This is clearly not what you literally mean.
> 
> davew
> 
> 
> On Sat, May 8, 2021, at 4:57 PM, Frank Wimberly wrote:
>> "The ball accelerated at  approximately 32 feet per second squared at sea 
>> level in a vacuum."
>> 
>> doesn't seem to be a metaphor to me.
>> 
>> ---
>> Frank C. Wimberly
>> 140 Calle Ojo Feliz, 
>> Santa Fe, NM 87505
>> 
>> 505 670-9918
>> Santa Fe, NM
>> 
>> On Sat, May 8, 2021, 3:07 PM <[email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>> Listen, Fella!
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> It’s metaphors all the way down!
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> [shoe thrown]
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> n
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Nick Thompson
>> 
>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
>> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ 
>> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwordpress.clarku.edu%2fnthompson%2f&c=E,1,76cwsDofsJZfToBxaQU6zR5cllp_k59wtln_iQtSrD8ozjyEN9kt0FPUs4RnuGnWMKFW-nOw3wJjMgAgCJAkSTlh3C3YKbI75yNyUMUvvw,,&typo=1>
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> From: Friam <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> 
>> On Behalf Of Gary Schiltz
>> Sent: Saturday, May 8, 2021 1:36 PM
>> To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]>>
>> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Morphogenisis
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> First of all, it's just a metaphor (ducking, the shoe barely missing my 
>> head) :-)
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Second of all, that description of animal development sure sounds to me like 
>> "following a script". 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> On Sat, May 8, 2021 at 2:23 PM <[email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>> 
>> This struck me: 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> When animals develop, they don’t follow a script. Instead, responding to 
>> their environment, the cells negotiate and feel their way toward a final 
>> form. A fertilized egg divides, and divides again, creating a hollow ball of 
>> cells called a blastula; genes instruct these cells to release chemicals, 
>> and other cells, reacting to those chemical concentrations, decide to 
>> migrate elsewhere or to develop into specific types of tissue. Other 
>> influences—oxygen, nutrients, hormones, sometimes toxins—further shape 
>> gestation. 
>> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/persuading-the-body-to-regenerate-its-limbs?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_050821&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bd678d924c17c104801f684&cndid=40835928&hasha=1dc6f15a30be2d4712fae5f0e5a9a679&hashb=5e4befc88214fadc869224d7cb34d55f51451bc7&hashc=0c6ef6b7bc8221288e1f4a4ca0116d78a21ebdbe47949488640c7c54c93120fb&esrc=AUTO_PRINT&utm_term=TNY_Daily
>>  
>> <https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/persuading-the-body-to-regenerate-its-limbs?utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_050821&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_medium=email&bxid=5bd678d924c17c104801f684&cndid=40835928&hasha=1dc6f15a30be2d4712fae5f0e5a9a679&hashb=5e4befc88214fadc869224d7cb34d55f51451bc7&hashc=0c6ef6b7bc8221288e1f4a4ca0116d78a21ebdbe47949488640c7c54c93120fb&esrc=AUTO_PRINT&utm_term=TNY_Daily>
>>  
>> 
>> First, note the reliance on psychological terms.  This is the sort of 
>> passage that would stimulate my teasing Hywel with, “So you see, Hywel, 
>> psychology really IS the mother of all sciences.”  And don’t any of you DARE 
>> to come back at me with, “It’s just a metaphor.”  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Second, which of these two models encapsulates more closely what you wizards 
>> mean by computation.  Is carrying out an algorithm  more like “computation” 
>> or is “building a limb”? Is a salamander’s limb “computed”?  If so, who 
>> computes it, or is that a violation of the language of computation.   I 
>> know.  Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread. 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Your loyal fool, 
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> Nic 
>> 
>> Nick Thompson
>> 
>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
>> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/ 
>> <https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwordpress.clarku.edu%2fnthompson%2f&c=E,1,kvyM80dHEYWNqV-0eMQdLvzgq9gnoqHZgBnwovx7X25DXpFtBFHjG7rHeqhcFUSqxlCOPKZ_ChyYYA8MEuyB_a_FRcYGgZ_JxXKUF1U4Ncx44i5dHnfxik87XZ1D&typo=1>
>>  
>> 
>> 
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