Can Metaphors Be Bad?

You can have a bad metaphor, one that is misleading or flat-out wrong. You will become especially aware of the limits of your metaphor when you want to change the system, but the metaphor just doesn't give you any guidance on that change.

One type of unhelpful metaphor is one that is unfamiliar; "shouting demons" won't help someone who doesn't know what a demon is. (This metaphor is from Oliver Selfridge's early AI program Pandemonium: "One might think of the various features as being inspected by little demons, all of whom then shout the answers in concert to a decision-making demon" [Selfridge+1963].)

A metaphor can be too weak. A string of characters is not complex enough to explain outline mode in a word processor. Or a metaphor can be too strong. For example, the Web is built around pages; many things are contorted to fit into this overpowering model. Finally, a metaphor can be too magical; it just doesn't tell you anything you can use.

The fact that a bad metaphor can be unhelpful shouldn't paralyze you with fear; you just need to be willing to keep looking and change your metaphor when you get a better idea.