4 ms·
Is it a mistake though to think of people as machines? Our muscles and joints and bones and tendons and stuff that move us around, even though biological in or
by mythrwy 9y ago
Is it a mistake though to think of people as machines?
Our muscles and joints and bones and tendons and stuff that move us around, even though biological in origin is very much a mechanical machine.
noun:
an apparatus using or applying mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task.
I don't get why would we suppose our cognitive functions to be any more than the result of physical phenomenon at some level. Especially when we know a little bit about the specifics (i.e drugs, brain surgery etc.).
Just because a machine is complicated or of personal interest doesn't make it any less a machine so I'm not sure this is a mistake.
Perhaps thinking the machine is simple enough to understand or that a frame of reference for objective understanding is possible may be mistakes though.
- placebo 9y ago>Is it a mistake though to think of people as machines? Yes and no... It is not a mistake because much (and perhaps eventually all) of observable human functionality and behavior can be logically explained and therefore eventually simulated. However, when logic becomes one's "Maslow's hammer" then of course not only are people machines but all of existence is just a giant machine. It's an easy mistake to make because we tend to conflate a very powerful tool used by the mind to operate in reality with reality itself. I think humans are unique (at least on this planet) in their ability to ask this question, but also in their ability to discover that the answer is negative - i.e there is much more to reality than a complex "dead" machine.