Who exactly is standing on the shoulders of giants? And who are these giants that supposedly give their shoulders to be stood upon? If thinkers, engineers, world leaders, and artists for example endeavor (or deign) to stand on some generous shoulder, what of the shoulder that they stand on? And how many shoulders are actually being stood upon? Did not the owner of a pair of shoulders stand on many others' shoulders?
Here the giants break down, and indeed, we find ourselves standing not on shoulders, but on masses upon masses of human thought and labor.
The giant then is in the mind. One beholds the mass personified in some symbolic figure, and attaches great power to it, and one in turn desires that great power for oneself, so one looks to "stand" in that particular portion of time and space.
