Science Progress

May 7, 2008

It’s Just Like That, Except Different

The Power of Analogy In Describing Nanotechnology

By W. Patrick McCray

Historical analogies have power. Is Iraq circa 2008 like Southeast Asia in 1968? Can one think of the United States, as Cullen Murphy suggests, as an imperial power whose recent history and future fate compares with ancient Rome? Historical analogies help frame policy debates and, while they do not establish proof, they suggest possibility. For the broader public, analogies also generate useful connections and relations, emotional as well as logical. At the same time, false or poorly constructed analogies can promote misunderstandings and even bad policy.

When it comes to understanding emerging fields such as information technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, historical analogies are just as potent. They help shape debate and can validate, even suggest, possible futures. In the 1960s, as the U.S. and USSR raced to best each other with feats in space, historians debated over whether comparisons to 19th century railroad infrastructure could help society prepare for the shocks that robust programs of space exploration would surely bring. In 1962, in fact, NASA sponsored a project that encouraged scholars to consider the long-term implications—economic, political, and social—of the national space program.

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