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Personally, when it comes to technical topics, I have not ever found an extended analogy that made a subject less confusing. Analogies are fine as a quick way t

Personally, when it comes to technical topics, I have not ever found an extended analogy that made a subject less confusing. Analogies are fine as a quick way to introduce the flavor of a topic -- saying "Kafka is like a river..." at least gets me started on the right footing. But when they extend onwards and onwards, I always just end up feeling like the analogy-creator is sort of reveling in a semi-poetic alignment they have found. Such alignments can be very strongly linked in one's head to a topic, because that's how brains learn -- they learn by linking new things to already-known things. However, they can also be quite person-dependent, and rarely do they contain enough hard & fast detail to count as helpful in the context of a technical explanation. Someone can write lots of paragraphs on this Kafka/river analogy (just one random example), but that doesn't impart in my head the same neuronal linkage that they have. Instead I am left, like the post author, trying to figure out how far the analogy extends, what the limits are (okay, so messages are like notes-in-bottles dropped in the river... but what are the fish? are there fish?), and so on. I would rather get clear, detailed explanation, and then think through the subject on my own time in a way that allows my brain to build its own relationships with the information. Maybe instead of rivers, my brain begins to understand Kafka as, I don't know, highways.

darkerside 5y ago
Interesting. I consider myself a "generous audience" in general. Quick to laugh, willing to suspend disbelief, eager to listen. I wonder if there is a correlation between open-mindedness of the listener/reader and the effectiveness of extended analogy. I can see your point, that if you try to "steal" the analogy (in the Picassian sense of the word), the analogy could become more distracting than helpful. If you take it for what it is and try to focus on the author's or speaker's vision, they probably work much better.
monocularvision 5y ago
There was recently some explanation of Kafka that was done as a children’s book about beavers or something. I found it utter baffling where most folks seemed to sing its praises.

darkerside 5y ago

Interesting. I consider myself a "generous audience" in general. Quick to laugh, willing to suspend disbelief, eager to listen. I wonder if there is a correlation between open-mindedness of the listener/reader and the effectiveness of extended analogy. I can see your point, that if you try to "steal" the analogy (in the Picassian sense of the word), the analogy could become more distracting than helpful. If you take it for what it is and try to focus on the author's or speaker's vision, they probably work much better.

monocularvision 5y ago

There was recently some explanation of Kafka that was done as a children’s book about beavers or something. I found it utter baffling where most folks seemed to sing its praises.