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What Is a Machine? daniel-hromada ()


What Is a Machine?

Hero%20of%20Alexandria%2C%201st%20century%20AD

Hero of Alexandria, 1st century AD

Before machines became motors, engines and computers, the word already meant something broader:

an ingenious means by which something becomes possible.

μηχανή → machina → machine

Greek μηχανή — mēkhanē: instrument, device, contrivance, means.

Latin machina: machine, engine, apparatus, contrivance.

Middle French machine → English machine.

The semantic field is older and broader than today's image of gears, motors and electronics.

Deus ex Machina

In Greek theatre, a mēkhanē could be the stage apparatus that lifted a god into view.

Hence: deus ex machina — the god from the machine.

human construction → superhuman appearance

The machine makes visible powers that exceed the ordinary human body.

Technē

The machine begins not only with matter, but with know-how.

Greek technē means skilled, rule-governed making.

thought → technē → artifact

Before artificial agency comes the intelligence of the maker.