Ways to say “someone who messes with forces they don’t understand”

Asked Dec 16 '20 at 14:03

Active Dec 16 '20 at 14:03

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I want to describe a character who experiments with sciences they don’t understand, at a great peril they are unaware of.

A hypothetical example of such a person would be a scientist who, in an attempt to study atomic behavior, splits an atom (obvious logistical challenge aside).

asked Dec 16 '20 at 14:03

jmkc

1

Does this answer your question? "Pandora's Box" metaphors where 'let the genie out of the bottle' is heavily upvoted. 'Playing with fire' doubtless dates from an age when flame thermodynamics wasn't well understood. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 16 '20 at 14:06
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Sorcerer's Apprentice? – Yosef Baskin Dec 16 '20 at 14:11
Tinkerer? Dilettante? *Meddler?* *Cowboy?* – FumbleFingers Dec 16 '20 at 14:16
These are good examples of what I am trying to express, but I’m looking for a noun, a title, to describe the person in the story, along the lines of a well-intentioned fool. Maybe a noun meaning “a naive person”. FumbleFingers is on the right track but not quite there... – jmkc Dec 16 '20 at 20:21
A naïf, maybe? Or a babe in the woods. – Dec 17 '20 at 02:53

Ways to say “someone who messes with forces they don’t understand”

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