Mechanism (Machine Metaphor)

Long-standing metaphor in science proposing that living systems function like machines, now in need of updating.

Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count

concept

Turing Machine
implements
Theoretical construct establishing classical demarcation between machine and environment via input/output channels.

claim

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

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.

Machine Metaphor in Biologyframework0.844
The central metaphor under examination: treating living things as machines; the paper argues for its update rather than rejection
Precision as Mechanismconcept0.791
auction mechanismconcept0.771
Competitive bidding to acquire animal cards, with buy-right option for auctioneer.
attention mechanismconcept0.768
Core operation in transformers, computing weighted combinations of previous elements
Causal Mechanismconcept0.750
Function determining the value of a variable based on its causal parents in an acyclic causal model.
Delegation mechanismconcept0.748
Model T metaphorconcept0.739
Analogy to early Ford automobiles with adjustable parts (vs. modern opaque engines); design goal for Playground's accessibility to customization.
Machine psychologyconcept0.730
Emerging field studying psychological properties of LLMs; the paper aims to bridge psychometric methodology with this field