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Comment by RagnarD | Hacker News Reader

Yes. Good thoughts but bottom line, it's trying to shoehorn something completely different into a form that makes it appear sophisticated. I think it just undercuts science. The periodic table is formed by important features of reality recognized in the elements, ultimately originating in quantum mechanics. Pretending that the structure applies to any capricious thing conveys an idea that the structure and reality is itself arbitrary.

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Valid. But so long as "periodic table of X" is a trope, I'm gonna complain about them.

I could have sworn there was a subreddit or something for "bad periodic tables", where someone has laid out a collection in a table-shaped way, without any mind to organization or patterns. But all I find now is "breaking bad" related stuff. Maybe it was a fever dream.

I agree that it's fairly arbitrary, but humans like order and structure and patterns. I think that's why the periodic table is captivating and magical.

Structure and patterns are great. I've love to see some structural classification of tools based on the nature of tools, not the quantum mechanical patterns of electron orbitals of atoms. :)

To me, the idea of grouping by basic, fundamental attributes to gain insight Has value.

While I agree the analogy is pushing things, using it as a jump board to perhaps uncover something subtle by using a different shape may prove to be useful in a way similar to how the periodic table is useful.

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