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Let's face it: at times, metaphors can be downright painful. But could they be used to convey potential threats to national security?
Science fiction writer Orson Scott Card said, "Metaphors have a way of holding the most truth in the least space."
Apparently a group of intelligence researchers for the U.S. government -- Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) -- agrees. They've launched a program that aims to determine what the use of specific verbiage in everyday conversation has to say about a person's view of the world.
In short, it's all about how people use indirect language to convey hidden feelings, thoughts or ideas. The way IARPA sees it, metaphors are associated with affect, which in turn influences behavior.
"The Metaphor Program will exploit the fact that metaphors are pervasive in everyday talk and reveal the underlying beliefs and worldviews of members of a culture," the agency announced in a recent public solicitation for researchers.
The group of intelligence officials wants help from super-smart civilians (specifically scientists, academics, computer buffs etc.) to develop software that can automatically analyze metaphors for patterns that could reveal, among other things, negative feelings towards other people, ideas or countries.
According to The Atlantic Magazine, the team plans to identify and define metaphors from Farsi, English and Spanish, label them with precise meanings and store them in a "metaphor repository" for future reference. Thus, computers will be doing a lot of the work.
The hope is that a universal "metaphor translation system," if you will, could help the U.S. government understand and interpret the actions, thoughts and behaviors of people around the world. Analysts could compare metaphors compiled in the database to predict actions, motives or intentions of people who may want to harm the U.S.
Whether this project will prove to be a goldmine is yet to be seen. But one thing is for certain: I am drowning in the idea.
Email: jrogers@ksl.com
