Metaphors are popular cognitive and conceptual tools in the worlds of systems and complexity, and boy do we like to fight about them! Take this discussion, for example, about the limits of understanding the organisation as a human body. Even if you agree with the premise (which I do, the metaphor has its limits) the collective conclusion still strikes me as remarkable: that somehow we will find a single metaphor (meadow, estuary or octopus) that sufficiently explains the phenomena under investigation.

#43: Mixing metaphors – by Luke Craven – Pig on the Tracks