This essay, on how metaphors shape our thinking, was my Observer column this week. (The column included also a short piece on the miscarriage of justice over the Lockerbie bombing.) It was published on 15 March 2020, under the headline ‘Like a moth to a flame, we’re drawn to metaphors to explain ourselves’. The selfish gene. The Big Bang. The greenhouse effect. Metaphors are at the heart of scientific thinking. They provide the means for both scientists and non-scientists to understand, […]

Categories: Culture & Books, Language, Science & Technology • Tags: computers, george lakoff, lera boroditsky, linguistics, mark johnson, matthew cobb, metaphors, neuroscience, paul thobodeau, psychology, the idea of the brain