Abstract: In this essay, we analyze the inflated use of the term “ecosystem” in technological and market-oriented discourses, such as “digital ecosystem” or “innovation ecosystem”, among others, discussing its effects on conceptual precision and techno-scientific communication. The study aims to understand how metaphors originating from ecology have been reinterpreted to describe networks of systems and corporate platforms. Methodologically, we adopt a qualitative and analytic-descriptive approach, combining literature review, linguistic critique, and comparative conceptual analysis. The proposed analysis integrates linguistic and technical criticism, demonstrating how fashionable expressions and distorted metaphors compromise conceptual accuracy, generate communicative confusion, and weaken both technical-scientific and corporate language. The results indicate that excessive metaphorical use undermines terminological clarity and leads to communicative ambiguities. In contrast, we discuss terms from cybernetic culture that have achieved semantic consolidation without loss of rigor, suggesting alternatives such as “System of Systems” (SoS) and “integrated platforms”, which preserve precision without resorting to semantic inflation. Keywords: Digital ecosystem; Technical language; Metaphor; Systems of systems; Semantic inflation; Scientific communication.
Authors: BRANDÃO, Iraê César; de OLIVEIRA, Gustavo Borges
DOI: 10.29327/7711181
Publish Year: 2025
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