In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland , Alice ends up in a world of crazy logic, having tea with the Hatter and the March Hare at a Mad tea party. The Hatter asks her the now-famous question, “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” After puzzling on the question, Alice asks him for the answer, and he admits he doesn't know—either why he asked it, nor what the answer is. Alice responds, rather churlishly, “I think you might do something better with the time than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers.” Why IS a Raven Like a Writing Desk? People still propose possible solutions. (My favorite answer is given by puzzle enthusiast Sam Lloyd in 1914: Edgar Allen Poe wrote on both .) Lewis Carroll himself said that there was no answer, which isn’t satisfying to many mathematicians. He later provided a deliberately ridiculous answer—indeed, as a logician he may have been poking fun at our need to answer every question. The no answer answer satisfies me, though. To me, this is an exploration of metaphor. To introduce a new way of thinking, it can be helpful to use what that person already knows as a framework, and then show how the new thing fits into that existing paradigm. In other words, you are talking about one thing in terms of another. Metaphor can be used as a function of x . So how is a raven like a writing desk? Shrug. It all depends on what the raven and writing desk stand for. This is what I am doing with this blog. While learning about the conundrums that are currently facing the EDA world, especially in terms of its complexity, and then thinking and learning about the rippling effects that advances in our industry can and will have on the future, I simply must think about it in terms of what I already know. Therefore, I write blogs with titles about turtles and knitting and apple pie . At least I know a little bit about these. Tomorrow: let’s talk about chess. Metaphorically, of course. —Meera The passage in question, in chapter 7 of Alice in Wonderland : …The Hatter opened his eyes very wide on hearing this; but all he SAID was, `Why is a raven like a writing-desk?’ `Come, we shall have some fun now!’ thought Alice. `I’m glad they’ve begun asking riddles. –I believe I can guess that,’ she added aloud. … the party sat silent for a minute, while Alice thought over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, which wasn’t much. … `Have you guessed the riddle yet?’ the Hatter said, turning to Alice again. `No, I give it up,’ Alice replied: `what’s the answer?’ `I haven’t the slightest idea,’ said the Hatter. `Nor I,’ said the March Hare. Alice sighed wearily. `I think you might do something better with the time,’ she said, `than waste it in asking riddles that have no answers.’![]()
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