Categories: Pseudo-explanations
And example of anthropomorphism in a scientist's discourse:
"And people have tried to make spider silk from yeast, getting yeast to generate – you put the genetic code of spider silk in, and you ask the yeast to generate the silk."
Dr Aarathi Prasad
Dr Aarathi Prasad (Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Global Health, UCL) was talking on an episode ('Materials that shape our world') of BBC's Start the Week.
'Asking' is being used metaphorically, but seems to be an anthropomorphic metaphor here. (Dr Prasad refers to people asking the yeast, but the implication is that the yeast respond to being asked.)
Read examples of anthropomorphism in science
[Please be aware that a word may have different nuances, or even a different meaning, according to context.]« Back to Index
