I don’t know, I don’t particularly care.
But I have friends who are happy to argue for hours about it. The instigator was a poor innocent kettle that waltzed the discussion through mechanics, thermodynamics, wedges and tympanic membranes.
I admit to my own role in the drama.
I’m posting this for the innocents. Don’t argue over pointless things. I want my two hours back.
4 Responses to "What is a machine?"
I’m so disappointed. I thought for sure I was coming into an entry on the whole brain/mind distinction at the very least.
Or maybe the deus ex machina (or do I mean deus in machina) debate? What?
Dukes ate mackinaw, that’s what.
(c.f. “The Seventh Gate” by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman)
Never heard of deus *in* machina before. Now you’ve got me curious. Speaking of deities in and out of machines, I watched Tron for the first time the other day. A very messy allegory. Also, it made me miss the DOS game Lightcycles is based on. Now I feel out of touch with technology, too. More Jeff Bridges, that’s the solution!
If there’s a deus *ex* machina, wouldn’t there also be one *in* as well?
I would suspect that in the “ghost in the machine” argument the “deus in machina” figures pretty large.
Would have thought it to be “deus en machina”
or “deus proto machina” depending on which ex we’re about here.