Kurt Vonnegut said it best.  Science and engineering are but stories.  Time honoured patterns that repeat, and repeat, and repeat.

Think about it.  Hero or heroine arrives on the scene.  Times are good.  External force of evil intercedes (e.g. an evil king, an evil alien invading force, whatever).  Things go bad, often really bad.  Then, eventually with time, good prevails over evil.  And the world, once again, returns to equilibrium.

The inverse is also possible.  As are multiple corollaries.  Then comes the sequel.

The rhythms and patterns that underlie science and engineering are but stories.  If only we would learn to tell them better.  And learn their historic morals.  We would all be better off.

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