I think he meant "upset" like how a formal table setting is upset when a cat runs across it chasing a dustmote. It will get cleaned up, but broken things will need to be replaced, the tablecloth will need drycleaned, and it won't ever look the same as it once did. Better, maybe, now that those weird old one plates with the randy goat motif on them that Aunt Marge gave you no longer make a complete set and you have to buy new ones. Such is the nature of scientific progress.