Although, as the foregoing evaluation suggests, there are problems with the metaphysical conception of SONEs, perhaps there is a different conceptualization that is more appropriate. For example, it may be the case that SONEs can be best understood not as physical things or cohesive systems, but as a politically convenient way of selecting aggregates. On such a reading, it would be understood that when we refer to a population, we are taking certain linguistic liberties to obtain more power, whether this power be of a conceptual or political nature. In this sense, population refers more to a methodological framework, a way of thinking about a group that may not fully “hang together,” than to a true unit.