An example of a scientific concept used as an analogue,
"As for the critical point theory of the appearance of culture, it postulates that the development of the capacity for acquiring culture was a sudden, all-or-none type of occurrence in the phylogeny of the primates. …The whole process of the creation of modern man's capacity for producing and using culture, his most distinctive mental attribute, is conceptualised as one of a marginal quantitative change giving rise to a radical qualitative difference, as when water, reduced degree by degree without any loss of fluidity, suddenly freezes at 0˚C, or when a taxing plane gains sufficient speed to launch itself into flight."
Clifford Geertz (2000) The growth of culture and the evolution of mind (first published 1962), in The Interpretation of Cultures. Selected Essays. 2nd Edition. New York. Basic Books.
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