Metaphors in Science

Violent and Harmful Metaphors

Metaphors can carry over ways of thinking from one era to another, especially when they become “dead” metaphors that are no longer generally thought about as metaphorical. Those invisible choices can perpetuate narratives and values that would be considered undesirable were we to think about them directly, including racism and other structural injustices against historically marginalized people. Some of these language conventions are obvious. Some are harder to see. All merit being rethought and replaced.

Here are three examples:

Racist metaphors in computing—Computer science, engineering, and biological sciences influenced by computer- and engineering metaphors (such as circadian biology) have routinely used “master” and “slave” to describe relationships among machine (or, analogically, biological) parts. In addition to causing ongoing harm to descendants of formerly enslaved people, these metaphors perpetuate the idea that master-slave relationships are “natural.” Similarly, “whitelist” and “blacklist” reinforce harmful stereotypes that white is “good” and free, while black is “bad” and restricted.

Ableist metaphors—Describing how someone “overcame barriers” to succeed can perpetuate the idea that physical or metal differences are deficiencies and inconsistent with accomplishment, so that they must be surpassed or corrected or “fixed” for someone to be considered successful.

War metaphors—War metaphors are everywhere, including in science-relevant contexts. They come with a built-in gender bias—insofar as men tend to fight in wars more than women and non-binary people—and may exclude or put off people who practice non-violence for religious or other reasons. And evidence is mounting that they may have unwanted effects, for example:

Further reading