It's kind of like...
May 17, 2010 3:23 PM Subscribe
I'm trying to write something about how "once I started researching this project, I realized how the subject was infinite: One revelation opened up a new line of research, which opened up another line of research..." What is the metaphor/simile I'm thinking of?
It's something like the dressing-room mirrors that show endless iterations of you; it's something like "down the rabbit hole," it's something like the nesting Russian dolls, but it's none of these. Any ideas?
It's something like the dressing-room mirrors that show endless iterations of you; it's something like "down the rabbit hole," it's something like the nesting Russian dolls, but it's none of these. Any ideas?
Fractals?
posted by threeants at 3:31 PM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by threeants at 3:31 PM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Mis en abyme, Droste effect, or Deleuze and Guattari's idea of the Rhizome describe some of the characteristics you're mentioning.
posted by jardinier at 3:32 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by jardinier at 3:32 PM on May 17, 2010
Maybe a babushka doll? (Russian dolls nested inside each other).
posted by LauraJ at 3:37 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by LauraJ at 3:37 PM on May 17, 2010
The simile that came to my mind for this was "like cutting the heads off a hydra." As soon as you answer one question, two more pop up.
posted by chatongriffes at 3:37 PM on May 17, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by chatongriffes at 3:37 PM on May 17, 2010 [3 favorites]
I doubt this is exactly what you are looking for but...
I like the analogy of a plane being piloted by automatic pilot. It takes off. In the air, it goes in one direction until the computer senses it is too far off course. It adjusts. It continues in the new direction until the computer once again senses that it is off course in this new direction. And so on. In a sense, the plane has been flying in precisely the wrong direction nearly all of the time it is in flight. Yet it arrives, on course, at its predetermined destination.
Many subtle, small iterations of incorrect, adding up to correct.
posted by nickjadlowe at 3:41 PM on May 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
I like the analogy of a plane being piloted by automatic pilot. It takes off. In the air, it goes in one direction until the computer senses it is too far off course. It adjusts. It continues in the new direction until the computer once again senses that it is off course in this new direction. And so on. In a sense, the plane has been flying in precisely the wrong direction nearly all of the time it is in flight. Yet it arrives, on course, at its predetermined destination.
Many subtle, small iterations of incorrect, adding up to correct.
posted by nickjadlowe at 3:41 PM on May 17, 2010 [2 favorites]
Onion is what I was thinking of... the further you go in, the more layers there seem to be.
posted by jessamyn at 3:49 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by jessamyn at 3:49 PM on May 17, 2010
Academic oblivion? I dunno, I'm just throwing a new one out there.
posted by Geppp at 3:52 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by Geppp at 3:52 PM on May 17, 2010
I came in to say Hydra, too.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 4:02 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by Admiral Haddock at 4:02 PM on May 17, 2010
Synaptic ?
posted by prenominal at 4:04 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by prenominal at 4:04 PM on May 17, 2010
Seconding Russian dolls.
posted by ropeladder at 4:11 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by ropeladder at 4:11 PM on May 17, 2010
Aren't those Russian nested dolls called Matryoska(sp?) dolls?
My first instinct was Fractals. Infinite complexity (however, they also repeat themselves and are uniform in a way that negates your use of the concept as completely apt).
The natural world in its interactions has near boundless complexity. Even isolated phenomena have a staggering degree of depth (and Rhizomatic complexity with regard to interconnections and -dependicies). At truly base levels, the mechanics that govern our world are seemingly not following any rules we can truly understand -so far.
As an aside, regarding the fallibility of implied knowledge at work in explaining and understanding concepts and phenomena, a youtube video of Feynman trying to explain why he can't explain magnetism to someone interviewing him is pure gold. (sorry, no link)
sorry about the rant!
posted by flippant at 4:12 PM on May 17, 2010
My first instinct was Fractals. Infinite complexity (however, they also repeat themselves and are uniform in a way that negates your use of the concept as completely apt).
The natural world in its interactions has near boundless complexity. Even isolated phenomena have a staggering degree of depth (and Rhizomatic complexity with regard to interconnections and -dependicies). At truly base levels, the mechanics that govern our world are seemingly not following any rules we can truly understand -so far.
As an aside, regarding the fallibility of implied knowledge at work in explaining and understanding concepts and phenomena, a youtube video of Feynman trying to explain why he can't explain magnetism to someone interviewing him is pure gold. (sorry, no link)
sorry about the rant!
posted by flippant at 4:12 PM on May 17, 2010
Russian Dolls was also my first thought... but onion works well too...
posted by HuronBob at 5:08 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by HuronBob at 5:08 PM on May 17, 2010
I doubt this is helpful, but it made me think of those shampoo commercials:
"you'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on..."
posted by cabingirl at 6:01 PM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
"you'll tell two friends, and they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on..."
posted by cabingirl at 6:01 PM on May 17, 2010 [1 favorite]
Hypertext/hyperlinking?
posted by nowmorethannever at 6:21 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by nowmorethannever at 6:21 PM on May 17, 2010
Um, can of worms?
posted by unknowncommand at 6:32 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by unknowncommand at 6:32 PM on May 17, 2010
Ad infinitum?
"So nat'ralists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum."
-- Jonathan Swift
(Also recursion?)
posted by Comrade_robot at 7:01 PM on May 17, 2010
"So nat'ralists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey,
And these have smaller fleas that bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum."
-- Jonathan Swift
(Also recursion?)
posted by Comrade_robot at 7:01 PM on May 17, 2010
Seconding mise en abyme. That is a term with pretty similar meaning that is used by literary critics.
posted by Falconetti at 8:27 PM on May 17, 2010
posted by Falconetti at 8:27 PM on May 17, 2010
the more you know, the less you know.
posted by batonthefueltank at 5:37 AM on May 18, 2010
posted by batonthefueltank at 5:37 AM on May 18, 2010
The Sorcerer's Apprentice? (all the brooms splitting into more brooms, and more brooms...)
posted by LauraJ at 11:05 AM on May 19, 2010
posted by LauraJ at 11:05 AM on May 19, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by hermitosis at 3:26 PM on May 17, 2010