Conversation

Has anyone ever done a systematic study of the laws of engineered systems? Like how we have laws of physics and principles of biology? Thinking stuff like: - they have lots of right angles - they have pure materials - weak fractal structure - symmetries etc
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People are misunderstanding. I mean how would you determine that an artifact was engineered rather than natural? Like an alien object? What specific heuristics would you apply? It feels obvious with human ones but making the principles explicit is not easy.
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Oh I like this thought. Things that are different (afaik): - Natural systems fractal - Right-angles are engineered - Rotating axles are engineered
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A fav observation is what I think of the anti-clockmaker theory: Designed systems have (1) few, (2) discrete, (3) minimally interacting components. Natural systems have many blended components with maximum interaction.
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I'm also remembering some NdGT quote about how biological systems have roughly the same distribution of elements as the universe at large. I bet the things we make (well, unless they're made from biomass, like wood) don't fit that.
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