| Metaphors matter[1]. "Strong-link problem" is an oxymoron. Any kind of chain is a "weak-link problem". If an individual scientific work stands on its own, if it's not a link that is part of a chain, it can't be a strong link. If it is a link, than it can also be a weak link, making science a "weak-link problem". In The Study of History, Lord Acton referd to "shining precepts which are the registered property of every school"[2]. > learn as much by writing as by reading; be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites; keep men and things apart; guard against the prestige of great names; see that your judgments are your own; and do not shrink from disagreement; no trusting without testing; be more severe to ideas than to actions; do not overlook the strength of the bad cause of the weakness of the good; never be surprised by the crumbling of an idol or the disclosure of a skeleton; judge talent at its best and character at its worst; suspect power more than vice, and study problems in preference to periods. The point that this article makes doesn't seem more then this "shining precept" that was a cliché even in 1895, but with an absurdly confusing metaphor. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphors_We_Live_By [2]: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dalberg-Acton,_1st_Baron_... |