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Illusions of Linguistics and Illusions of Modern Synthesis: Two Parallel Stories

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Abstract

Metaphors involve immense explanatory power and positive impact predominantly in the scientific education and popularization. Still the use of metaphors in science might be a double-edged sword. Introduction of the computer metaphor to many scientific fields in the last century resulted in reductionist approaches, oversimplifications and mechanistic explanations in science as well as in humanities. In this short commentary we developed further the computer metaphor by prof. Noble and the illusions this metaphor led to in genetics, linguistics and consequently DNA linguistics.

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Funding

This work was supported by project Sinophone Borderlands: Interaction at the Edges, n. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000791.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Linguistics, Palacký University in Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Alexander Bolshoy & Ľudmila Lacková

  2. Department of Computer Science, College of Law & Business, Ramat-Gan, Israel

    Alexander Bolshoy

  3. Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

    Alexander Bolshoy

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  1. Alexander Bolshoy
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  2. Ľudmila Lacková
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Correspondence to Ľudmila Lacková.

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Bolshoy, A., Lacková, Ľ. Illusions of Linguistics and Illusions of Modern Synthesis: Two Parallel Stories. Biosemiotics 14, 115–119 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-021-09429-9

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