Analogies can be a useful way to generate questions but dangerous when used to provide answers. -- misremembered paraphrasing of someone else's snappy quote S

Analogies can be a useful way to generate questions but dangerous when used to provide answers. -- misremembered paraphrasing of someone else's snappy quote So, a fun question could be: what are "first principles" for car engine design? what are "first principles" for data storage in distributed system design? are those two sets of first principles the same, or are they wildly different, with different goals and constraints? i clicked through the link and was sad to see no clear articulation or evidence of any kind of "first principles" thinking. it would be genuinely interesting to see a solid analysis. edit: aha, it seems like it i am remembering something Martin Fowler wrote once: > [...] I'm very suspicious of using metaphors of other professions to reason about software development. [...] it all comes down to how you use the metaphor. Comparing to another activity is useful if it helps you formulate questions, it's dangerous when you use it to justify answers. - https://martinfowler.com/bliki/MetaphoricQuestioning.html https://martinfowler.com/bliki/MetaphoricQuestioning.html