Conference
1 June 2022
What is a machine? What distinguishes a machine from a simple tool and other technical artifacts?
A machine is always, in a sense, magical and dangerous, as it does something “by itself”.
In comparing machines with living systems, a debate that has been with us since Descartes’ theory of the animal-machine, rather than asking what type of machines are living systems, the arising question is: if living systems are machines, in what way are human-made machines particular?
