3 ms·

If sending logs down a river is a machine, couldn't that make almost anything a machine? The river itself, for instance.

• generalizations 2y ago
  Yes, it is a mechanical system that invokes stochastic processes within deterministic bounds to accomplish a specific, complex outcome. Given sufficient knowledge, it can be mapped and its functions defined. I believe that summarizes transistors, cells, and forest-to-sawmill machines.
  • roywiggins 2y ago
    Doesn't that also describe, like, plate tectonics and tornadoes? Once you expand the definition of "machine" that far, what doesn't it reach?
    • generalizations 2y ago
      Vortexes absolutely have their place in fluid dynamics and mechanical design. Modern shipbuilding depends on them. If we ever manage to attempt geoengineering at the largest scale, plate tectonics would probably also come into play. Which is to say, yes: it is a system composed of comprehensible systems, which makes it, itself, a comprehensible system. And that's the whole point here: given knowledge and time, we can tease out exactly how it works.