Analogies Become Dangerous When They Are Treated as Laws
Analogies are useful because they carry structure from one domain into another. A physical system helps us see a social system. A machine helps us understand a workflow. A balance helps us think about integrity.
The analogy can sharpen attention. It cannot prove that the second domain obeys the same law as the first.
Gravity has measurable physical properties. Integrity is a human and social concept. Calling integrity a law of the universe may be rhetorically powerful, but the comparison does not turn the concept into physics.
The useful part of the analogy can survive without that overclaim. Broken commitments can have consequences whether or not we prefer those consequences. Loss of trust can reduce workability. Unreliable systems require additional checking.
Those observations can be examined directly. Analogy should open inquiry. When it becomes proof, it closes inquiry with borrowed authority.