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In my view, biologists should stop using ‘master–slave’ terminology. This is an all-too-common descriptor for entities that control many others and processes that occur exclusively at the expense of alternatives. A precedent for ending use of such terminology has been set by the IEEE, the world’s largest association of technical professionals (see go.nature.com/3e4yp4k). Language freighted with racism, degradation, brutality and human suffering has no place in the scientific lexicon.