We can only go so far as our imaginations will take us.
Especially when it comes to innovations — even in science-minded fields like flight and computers. At The Millions, Rob Goodman muses on the power of metaphor to slow the progress of cellphones and even space travel:
…from Captain Kirk to the word astronaut (literally ‘star sailor’), we’ve been taught to view space exploration through the metaphor of seafaring adventure. Yet the Curiosity rover crew, without resembling swashbuckling sailors in the least, has brought back more knowledge of our solar system than any astronaut to date.
He even seems to suggest, as some tech companies have worked on out in their quest for multi-genred employees, that these bastions of science should staff fine arts majors to imagine for them, to dream up the next great thing.
