Hello Roxane!
I am sorry to have taken so long replying to your query. At first, I could not find the quotation – and for future reference it may help to have a first edition to pinpoint sentences in the text. Eventually, of course, I realised it was in the very first paragraph.
The sense of the phrase is very difficult to understand … I am not sure exactly what Jerome means, so I would go for a literal translation: diagrammes pétrifiés qui prouvent des problèmes morts – then it will be as obscure in French as it is in English!
All best wishes,
Jeremy Nicholas