Category: Metaphors
-
Observing shifts in metaphors for AI: What changed and why it matters
In my previous two posts I have made the case for an AI metaphor observatory and surveyed the recent academic landscape of studies dealing with metaphors for AI in the sense of GenAI and LLMs. In this post, the third and last in my ‘trilogy’, I’ll attempt to review recent trends and shifts in metaphor…
-
Metaphors for AI: An overview of recent studies
In my previous post (part 1 of a trilogy) I called for an AI metaphor observatory to watch how people make sense (and sometimes nonsense) of generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, through metaphors. I was pleased to see that many scholars are now collecting AI metaphors and studying them systematically and I provided a rough…
-
Making the case for an AI metaphor observatory
Between 2023 and 2025 I have written various posts on GenAI, Large Language Models and metaphors: one where I went out hunting for metaphors; one where I had a chat with ChatGTP about metaphors for itself, metaphors that turned out to be rather magical; one focusing on food or culinary metaphors for AI; some dealing…
-
Metonymy and me
Last week was metonymy week for me. In this post I’ll tell you three stories about metonymy, all related to a train ride to and from Oxford with my husband – a sort of anniversary trip, as we met there in 1985. Before I tell my stories, a quick reminder of how metonymy works in…
-
The dark genome: A gothic tale with a happy ending
On 29 September Roger Highfield published an article for the Francis Crick Institute entitled “A message from the dark genome: The genetic ghosts that haunt and help us” (based on a chat with George Kassiotis and Samra Turajlic). This set my metaphor-whiskers twitching, as the article overflows with metaphors circling around the central one of…
-
Metaphor, alchemy and lessons from the 17th century
Philip Ball has just published a magnificent book on the history of alchemy: Alchemy: An Illustrated History of Elixirs, Experiments, and the Birth of Modern Science. This made me think about metaphor, of course, given how central metaphorical language was to alchemical practice. In a sense, metaphor is alchemy, metaphorically speaking, as it transmutes two…
-
Erving Goffman: Memories, method and metaphors
If you do sociology or, indeed, any social science whatsoever, you’ll come across the work of Erving Goffman. I have done too but never engaged with it as much as I should have done. This was brought back to me when I talked with somebody who once shared a taxi-ride with Goffman and chatted with…
-
AI winter and AI bubble: Historical and metaphorical reflections
I have followed the emergence of recent developments in AI from the end of 2022 onwards, marked by the launch of OpenAI‘s AI chatbot ChatGPT. It’s now the middle of 2025 and a LOT has happened in this space. From being a niche and nerdy topic, AI has become a topic discussed across society. Recently, I…
-
Situational metaphors, satire and sense-making
I was idly perusing Bluesky on 13 August when I read this exchange: “This evening, a fire truck was coming from the opposite direction, sirens blaring, lights blazing. There was an obstinate car that refused to make way. I later realized it was a Waymo driverless car. It didn’t know better. I hope that clueless…
-
Let there be light!
We recently visited Derby and, for the first time in forty years, I actually went into the Cathedral. It doesn’t look very prepossessing from the outside, but boy the inside is great. It is full of light. It was built in 1725 and reflects and interacts with the ideas and values of the Enlightenment era. I…
Making Science Public 