Machines: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Corporate etymology.png|alt=Corporate etymology|thumb|The origin of the word "Corporation"]]
[[File:Machine-cog.jpg|alt=A poem about cogs in a machine.|thumb|Figure 1. A poem about cogs in a machine.]]
'''A machine is an enclosed collection of parts which exert force on each other to produce a desired outcome.'''  
'''A machine is a collection of parts that uses energy to produce output. This may be as simple as cogs in a drill press making holes in wood or employees working in a [[corporation]] to make profit.'''  


It is the commonality of the parts which define the machine i.e. the majority of parts in a drill press do simple tasks which synergistically make holes in things. This definition can also be used for a collection of people working together to make profit, such as a [[corporation]].
As automation increases with the rise of [[Bots|robotisation]], deunionisation and digital internal governance systems, corporate machines are becoming less human and more mechanised in their pursuit of output.  


Similarly, in the future a new autonomous machine might be invented however if its sole purpose was to make profit it would kill everyone on earth to do so. So if a machine were to be created it would need 3 preliminary rules which would be hierarchically gated:
Machines often have a purpose, where a drill press in a factory makes holes, a corporation as per their incorporation statement has a [[Fiduciary Duty|fiduciary duty]] to make money for shareholder profit or wages. Since the [[ecological crisis]], we’ve been told that the machine can change. Benevolent investors would simply reroute capital away from dirty energy sectors and toward the green industries of the future. But the promise of “''socially responsible finance''” has proven to be illusory [[greenwashing]]. For instance, despite pledges to do otherwise, Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, has continued to invest in fossil fuel companies, and the production of coal—the dirtiest fossil fuel—is now on the rise.


* A machine may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
There is no-one to blame here. It is not an evil genius pulling the strings in order to destroy the planet. It is simply a machine whose primary purpose is making money irrelevant of negative [[externalities]].
* A machine must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
* A machine must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

Latest revision as of 07:54, 27 November 2023

A poem about cogs in a machine.
Figure 1. A poem about cogs in a machine.

A machine is a collection of parts that uses energy to produce output. This may be as simple as cogs in a drill press making holes in wood or employees working in a corporation to make profit.

As automation increases with the rise of robotisation, deunionisation and digital internal governance systems, corporate machines are becoming less human and more mechanised in their pursuit of output.

Machines often have a purpose, where a drill press in a factory makes holes, a corporation as per their incorporation statement has a fiduciary duty to make money for shareholder profit or wages. Since the ecological crisis, we’ve been told that the machine can change. Benevolent investors would simply reroute capital away from dirty energy sectors and toward the green industries of the future. But the promise of “socially responsible finance” has proven to be illusory greenwashing. For instance, despite pledges to do otherwise, Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, has continued to invest in fossil fuel companies, and the production of coal—the dirtiest fossil fuel—is now on the rise.

There is no-one to blame here. It is not an evil genius pulling the strings in order to destroy the planet. It is simply a machine whose primary purpose is making money irrelevant of negative externalities.

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