"It’s not always technical walls that stop change in its tracks. Sometimes, innovation is limited by..."

“It’s not always technical walls that stop change in its tracks. Sometimes, innovation is limited by language itself. When metaphors start to die, or when we forget that they’re only tools, they can become some of the most powerful forces against innovation.”

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Rob Goodman, “Bad Metaphors, Bad Tech” (via millionsmillions)

Additionally:

We’re free to write language, images, and anything else with the mushy look of the humanities out of the history of progress. We’re even free, like the state of Florida, to consider charging more for a college education in the comparatively “useless” fields of English and history. But the result might be a generation of would-be innovators even more prone to be unaware of, and trapped in, the dominant metaphors of the day — like the sculptor too busy modeling little angels to give much attention to the miraculous flying machine underneath.