The role of metaphors in the development of technologies. The case of the artificial intelligence

Technology plays a prominent role in configuring the way we live and work. In this paper we go further and think that it is a first level driver in the configuration of our deepest perceptions and has a paramount influence on shaping our worldviews and metaphors, though this aspect goes unnoticed for most of the population.In this paper we analyze how metaphors take action in the characterization of technologies, mainly emerging technologies, and in their evolution, and furthermore the impact of technologies and metaphors on the way we perceive our daily life. We analyze metaphors underlying brain nature and artificial intelligence, raising the connections between them and showing how metaphors in one of these fields impact on the way we understand the other. This fact has important consequences, for instance it conditions the evolution of computational systems, and we propose two scenarios for this evolution.This paper relies on the conceptual model and classification of metaphors proposed by Lakoff and Johnson in “Metaphors we live by”, from the orientational metaphors that show values and mantras, to the deepest structural metaphors that are reconfiguring how life is conceived. It also relies on CLA (Causal Layered Analysis) and to its reference book “CLA 2.0” in order to insert this analysis in a wider and future oriented framework and to analyze scenarios.     

Finance models as metaphors

Quantitative models in the social science of finance such as the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model (OPM) are metaphors. They cannot be applied literally, but do provide us with figurative knowledge—an epistemologically meaningful form that might legitimately be called a “useful framework,” as the CAPM is commonly referred to in textbooks. This paper describes the scientific value of metaphors and discusses why the OPM ought to be seen as one and what this might mean. As a result of finance research and the development of what has been called “modern finance theory,” of which the CAPM and OPM are important parts, we can certainly understand financial relationships much better, but that “understanding” is quite different from what our research methods imply that it is.     

Metaphors and organizational identity in the Italian public services

This article calls in question the stereotyped image of the lazy and idle employee, lacking motivation or a sense of responsibility. In analysing three case histories in the secretarial offices of a major university department, in a registry office and in a specialist ward in a medium-size hospital, we discovered an unexpected world of cooperation, commitment and initiatives. In this research attention focuses on the operators’ point of view, i.e. the complex interactions with the public, the symbolic frames created to justify one's own role and routine, the metaphors used to explain the dilemma of a difficult everyday life. Running a service means offering a non-material product in which personal attitudes, organizational abilities and communication codes all play a decisive role. Perhaps the observation of small communities at work may help us to find that lost way out of the labyrinth of the Italian public administration.     

Verticality in product labels and shelves as a metaphorical cue to quality

This study investigates how subtle visual cues related to the design of a product's package (i.e., label position) and the context (i.e., shelf orientation) influence consumer evaluation and behavioral intention. Extending research on metaphorical cues, Study 1 shows that consumers perceive a product as more powerful when the label on the package is placed in a higher (vs. lower) vertical position. Extending the focus from package design to the display context of packages, Study 2 shows that consumer perception of a product's power is similarly enhanced when the package is placed on a shelf that is vertically (vs. horizontally) orientated. Across both studies effects of enhanced power perception extend to positively influence product quality inferences and behavioral intentions. These findings add to current knowledge on metaphorical cues in package design and the package's presentation context and offer insights into the underlying mechanism.     

Metaphors of the future and the power of images in the British TV drama Spooks

Our analysis of metaphors of the future in the British TV drama Spooks is situated within the phenomenon of television as a complex narrative and global media product at the time of the proclaimed war on terror. We claim that the conceptualization of the future is shaped by the notion of the conflicts between civilizations, in which various Others are produced by media and military discourses as a threat to western civilization. The dominant discourses in Spooks involve the manageable future (as a destination and a framework) and the future as judgment and apocalypse (which can be avoided through the process of macro-securitization that relies on predictive analysis and the efforts of competent individuals). We explore the anticipatory aspect of the series since it predicted geopolitical trends such as 7/7, the Ukrainian crises and the negative perception of Russia. Spooks deconstructs the notion of a homogenous Western alliance and exposes the hypocrisy of the war on terror which includes the violation of civil rights. Our analysis suggests that the series has transformative potential by offering alternative future perspectives of the different sides in the conflict.     

Metaphors,social practices,and economic life: ASE presidential address

Our lived experiences of the economy shape the metaphors that we use to describe the economy. Yet, any particular metaphor can only provide a partial perspective. There are two ways our conceptual frameworks have reflected partial perspectives. The first is historical: our conceptual frameworks tend to build upon ideas developed during the factory age. A machine metaphor, grounded in the industrial age, focuses on the transformation of resources into outputs, but it obscures other aspects of economic life. Second, economic concepts and metaphors are affected by our personal standpoints and our social identities. As social economists, we recognize that our economy is embedded in society, a society in which social identities such as class, gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality shape our standpoints. To fully understand the continuities and changes in how social provisioning is organized, we need to be attentive to these social identities and how they are constituted and transformed through social practices.     

Policy metaphors: From the tuberculosis crusade to the obesity apocalypse

In this paper we examine the conceptual and political work that metaphors do, with particular regard to how they construct problems and thus in turn limit the range of solutions.¹ Common metaphors in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia are examined (war, disease and crime metaphors, and the economy and nation as a body) by analysing historical and modern texts about the policy issues of tuberculosis, immigration, asylum seeking, welfare, obesity and food insecurity. Through this we show that metaphors, in conjunction with discourses, may work to: naturalise and privilege certain constructions of problems; attribute blame and responsibility; support claims about the urgency and extent of required intervention (and who should deliver it, to whom and how); influence the identification and consideration of solutions by constructing the problem in particular ways; intentionally or unintentionally result in stigmatisation and non-trivial discrimination (social and workplace); and erase or highlight the role of actors, processes, social relations and systems. Vallis has developed the analysis, the bulk of the paper, and Inayatullah has articulated the theoretical links to causal layered analaysis (CLA). While there are multiple ways to use CLA, in this paper we use CLA to map a number of issues accross perspectives and frames, and to deconstruct creating the possibility for alternative futures. We do not explore alternative or preferred futures.     

Effects of metaphoric advertising among mainland Chinese consumers

An experiment was conducted among mainland Chinese consumers in order to determine the effects of metaphors in illustrations and headlines on advertisement and brand attitudes and behavioural intentions for symbolic and utilitarian products. The results showed that metaphors had differing effects depending on product type and whether they were used in illustrations or the headlines. The use of metaphors in headlines for symbolic products generally resulted in less favourable attitudes and behavioural intentions than non-metaphoric headlines. However, the use of a non-metaphoric headline with a metaphoric illustration resulted in the most favourable attitudes and behavioural intentions, while the use of metaphors in both advertisement elements was the least effective. In contrast, metaphoric headlines for utilitarian products enhanced attitudes and behavioural intentions more than non-metaphoric headlines. No superiority of metaphoric illustrations was observed.