02-05-2011:

I have told this allegory several times over the past years. Usually to tease scientists, which worked quite well. Time to write is down. This reasoning is an advanced data analysis like we used to do in the 90's of the previous century.

'Science' is a complex structure of notions which looks like a House of Cards. The horizontal cards are the notions / concepts and their properties for description and identification. The vertical cards are the relationships / associations between the concepts. The complete House of Cards is the joint knowledge that het scientists have been building over centuries. The gravity that keeps the House of Cards standing straight is statistical analysis and the rules of logic that govern science.

In general, scientist are proud on their contribution / publications to the House of Cards. They don't get very amused when some young smartass removes one vertical card which causes parts of the structure to collapse. However the same young smartass or some other person usually picks up the cards and starts restructuring the building, leans backwards, enjoys his or hers contribution, untill ...