In his TED talk, Metaphorically speaking, James Geary discusses how humans cognitively connect physical concepts to abstract ones. Even what appear to be the most common of words are, in fact, metaphors.

In fact, he says that metaphor is “an indispensable conceptual mechanism which allows us to think of abstract notions in terms of simpler concrete things” (Deutscher 142).

In this chapter, Deutscher explains that metaphors are how we are able to comprehend abstract concepts. If something is clear, you can see through it, so if someone’s statement is clear, you can perceive its meaning. They are not asking if they have turned invisible the meaning of ‘clear’ has evolved. However, the literal definition of the word ‘clear’ is ‘transparent’, or ‘translucent’. If someone asks “Do I make myself clear?”, they are checking to see if you understood. This word can be used to describe ideas, or statements. By this definition, a metaphor is some word or phrase whose meaning has evolved to something other than its literal definition. Examining its etymology, we find that its root, the greek ‘meta-phora’ means to carry across, making itself a metaphor. We see this in many of our words today, and we are constantly creating new metaphors to suit our needs.ĭeutscher defines a metaphor as something which “transfer concepts from one linguistic domain to another” (Deutscher 117). According to Deutscher, this is how words for abstract concepts originated. Words change their meanings, sometimes multiple times. The stories that Ibis speaks of are the 7 novels about the events surrounding the announcements of the development of artificial intelligence (AI) in the 20th to 21st centuries.In Chapter Four of his book, The Unfolding of Language, Guy Deutscher discusses how a large portion of our modern language is built out of metaphors. One day, he is abducted by Ibis, an android in the form of a young girl, and told of the stories created by humans in the ancient past. In this brutal time, our main character travels from colony to colony as a 'storyteller,' one that speaks of the stories of the past. They resent the androids, who have built themselves a stable and cultural society. The story takes place centuries in the future, where the diminished populations of humans live uncultured lives in their own colonies. She tells him seven stories of human/android interaction in order to reveal the secret behind humanity's fall. In a world where humans a minority and androids have created their own civilization, a wandering storyteller meets the beautiful android Ibis.

The stories of ibis by hiroshi yamamoto