We need new metaphors that put life at the centre of biology | Aeon Essays

The role of metaphor and narrative, as opposed to new theories or experiments, is too little recognised in discussions of the historian of science Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm shifts, supposed (and contested) moments of dramatic change in science. All scientists know how to go about scrutinising a theory: you use it to formulate some testable hypothesis,... See more

the best narratives and metaphors for thinking about how life works come not from our technologies (machines, computers) but from life itself.