Gotcha. I've usually heard Moby Dick referenced to mean something elusive or borderline impossible to catch -- which is not necessarily the same thing as rarit

Gotcha. I've usually heard Moby Dick referenced to mean something elusive or borderline impossible to catch -- which is not necessarily the same thing as rarity, but has a similar outcome I suppose. Of course, as you point out, the ultimate point of most Moby Dick metaphors is caution: chasing the white whale leads to your doom. That latter point, even though it isn't the thrust of Andreesen's metaphor, nevertheless comes through in the article. So the whole "Moby Dick = unpredictable" thing doesn't quite hit its mark, but "Chasing Moby Dick = fruitless and possibly self-destructive" still does. I'd love to see someone reference Solaris in a post like this, but yeah, it's just too obscure for most audiences.