Machines can now make machines.

Evolutionary algorithms and self-organizing systems blur distinction between evolved and designed.

Source paper

extracted_from

Living Things Are Not (20th Century) Machines: Updating Mechanism Metaphors in Light of the Modern Science of Machine Behavior

(2021) · Joshua Bongard · Michael Levin

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

Thinkers (1)

thinker

John von Neumann
supports
Theorist who postulated self-replicating machines demonstrating machines can make other machines.

Communities (3)

community

Design principles for care-centered systems
members_of
Cross-scale frameworks linking spatial patterns, diagrams, and simplicity as expressions of care in design.
Living systems as 21st-century machines
members_of
Reconceptualizes life and biological complexity through modern computational principles—substrate-dependence, multiscale integration, irreducibility—rather than mechanical reductionism, bridging xenobiology and machine learning circa 2020s.
Life-machine boundary dissolution
members_of
Argues 21st-century machines share properties once unique to living systems, collapsing categorical distinctions.

Claims (1)

claim

Living things are not 20th-century machines, but may be 21st-century machines.
supports
Core thesis: the machine metaphor requires updating, not abandoning, in light of modern machine behavior.

Related by similarity (8)

cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edge

Entities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.

The notion of 'machine' used to claim living things are not machines refers to an outdated definition that no longer fits.claim0.822
First central claim of the paper: the machine concept used in organicist critiques is historically contingent, not essential
Modern machines are increasingly interdependent, not independent.claim0.793
Challenges classical assumption that machines are separate from environment and each other.
Physicality is not a requirement for a machine; a machine learning algorithm that generates other machine learning algorithms or designs robots qualifies as a machine.claim0.793
Proposed definitional update removing physicality as a necessary condition for machines
The full possibilities of my system will not have been realized until almost all of the machines in the shop are run by men who are of smaller caliber and attainment, and who are therefore cheaper than those required under the old system.quote0.786
Taylor's own words revealing the deliberate deskilling and cost-cutting aim of scientific management.
What is an appropriate definition of 'machine,' and does it apply to all, some, or no living forms across the tree of life?question0.785
Foundational definitional question motivating the entire paper
Can machines think? This should begin with definitions of the meaning of the terms machine and think.quote0.784
Foundational epigraph setting the paper's methodological stance on conceptual clarity.
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.quote0.783
Einstein's assertion invoked to explain why BMR preserves accuracy while reducing complexity
Can computers be conscious? Or more specifically, can today's computers fully emulate the way in which organisms compute minds?question0.781
Central research question motivating the entire paper