Metaphors and Assigning Credit

I am reading a fascinating book entitled "Metaphors We Live By" by George Lakhoff(linguist) and Mark Johnson(philosophy.) The basic thesis is that metaphors are not just language constructs, but are an organizing framework for the way we think. Thus, metaphors in our language shape our perceptions and actions without us ever realizing it. Anyway - very interesting. I think this is may be related to statistics, just not sure how yet!

Giving credit for those who have come before

I really like the forward in that it puts the work in the historical context. We all stand on the shoulders of the great who have gone before us. It is good to remember that, and not get discouraged when we don't feel we are being creative or innovative enough. There are very few really "new" discoveries. Nothing happens in a vacumn. That book on innovation also points that out. ET also made that point when trying to present information - don't create a new format - just steal from the best! It puts a new light on what is valuable and what is a contribution. (The Nobel prize lady using genetics and corn may be more of an exception.)

Here is part of the forward:

"Ideas don't come out of thin air. The general ideas of this book represent a synthesis of various intellectual traditions and show the influence of our teachers, colleagues, students, and friends. In addition, many specific ideas have come from discussions with literally hundreds of people. We cannot adequately acknowledge all of the traditions and people to whom we are indebted. All we can do is to list some of them and hope that the rest will know who they are and that we appreciate them. The following are among the sources of our general ideas." They go on to list two pages of sources of intellectual traditions, and authors. Very impressive! Why not start out with who you are indebted to?

In a related issue of where ideas come from is the book "How Invention Begins" by John H. Lienhard. He writes in his forward:

"Beginnings of the important things in our lives ... are quiet and invisible - not like the band-accompanied launching of a ship or the firing of a rocket into space. The ship might have begun with a student sitting on the rocks above the sea, hypnotized by the movement of a boat in the cove below or reading stories of the sea. Perhaps the Saturn rocket can be traced back to a child who watched Fourth of July fireworks, or read about Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, and then asked, "Why not me?" Invention has fermented alone inside their heads, but it has also been driven by the voices of their communities.

We eventually realize that an elusive a priori essence hovers over all invention; we sense its presence, but it can be fiendishly hard to trace. Too much has always gone on before we get around to assigning priority to the creation of any new thing. Invention is a powerful part of the human psyche. But its texture and form are quite different from the cartoon images that we often use to represent it. We all want to foster the creative improvement of our world, and that alone is reason to spend this time sorting out the meaning of invention.

... human invention is ever-present and (that) is always accompanied by a communal synergy of ideas. ... we need to do more than just make that bland assertion. We also need to connect, viscerally with its seeming contradiction - the coexistence of individual creativity and communal reinforcement.

The fabric of causality becomes terribly complex in the case of invention. That is why we do better if we begin with a seemingly illogical acceptance that invention is the emergence of a collective idea at the same time it is an expression of one person's genius."

Giving credit, realizing the source of inspiration are important, but don't detract from the contribution that each of us makes in creating something that is new or a new take on a seemingly settled piece of "science."