Re:For Better Computing, Liberate CPUs from Garbage Collection
by kbenson on Thursday May 09, 2019 @05:07PM
(#19872434)
> If the waterbed metaphor isn't taken literally it informs of nothing we don't already suspect.
It informs you of nothing you didn't already suspect. I think it's useful to remind people of something that's fairly obvious ans self explanatory if you think about it, but not everyone does, and having an easy and slightly odd metaphor to point to helps the point to get across. The fact that you think it's obvious is actually one of its major benefits. You can immediately start exploring the consequences of it instead of spending time proving it. Honestly, of all the criticisms to level at a metaphor, "too obvious" isn't one I would consider worth bringing up. Obvious metaphors are used to good effect all the time.
Edit to address your prefixed paragraph:
> The waterbed theory in fact explicitly states that the amount of complexity is preserved no matter how it is distributed.
If you read carefully, it says that the minimum level of complexity may not be reduced. Who is to say the minimum level of complexity has already been reached? Or that pushing down a level above the minumum in some area won't cause only the minimum level to rise elsewhere (or vice-versa)?
It informs you of nothing you didn't already suspect. I think it's useful to remind people of something that's fairly obvious ans self explanatory if you think about it, but not everyone does, and having an easy and slightly odd metaphor to point to helps the point to get across. The fact that you think it's obvious is actually one of its major benefits. You can immediately start exploring the consequences of it instead of spending time proving it. Honestly, of all the criticisms to level at a metaphor, "too obvious" isn't one I would consider worth bringing up. Obvious metaphors are used to good effect all the time.
Edit to address your prefixed paragraph:
> The waterbed theory in fact explicitly states that the amount of complexity is preserved no matter how it is distributed.
If you read carefully, it says that the minimum level of complexity may not be reduced. Who is to say the minimum level of complexity has already been reached? Or that pushing down a level above the minumum in some area won't cause only the minimum level to rise elsewhere (or vice-versa)?