Machines are fungible: Difference between revisions

From The Jolly Contrarian
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
{{a|devil|}}[[Machines are fungible]]: you can engineer the same machine and get the same results anywhere in the world. The difference in operating cost between the same piece of machinery here and there — essentially the difference in real estate and energy inputs — is an opportunity for [[arbitrage]]. <Ref>Though it might be blown out by transport costs and material qualities, not to mention variability in the meatware]].</ref>Machines are totally fungible. The [[meatware]] is not. To be sure one can generalise about people, these are [[heuristic]]s.
{{a|devil|}}[[Machines are fungible]]: you can engineer the same machine and get the same results anywhere in the world. The difference in operating cost between the same piece of machinery here and there — essentially the difference in real estate and energy inputs — is an opportunity for [[arbitrage]]. <Ref>Though it might be blown out by transport costs and material qualities, not to mention variability in the [[meatware]].</ref>Machines are totally fungible. The [[meatware]] is not. To be sure one can ''generalise'' about people — it is [[Unconscious bias|hard not to]] — these are [[heuristic]]s — rules of thumb, top be used provisionally and in the absence of better intelligence — and if we treat them as immutable rules on which we may rely we are asking for trouble.
{{Sa}}
{{Sa}}
*[[W. Edwards Deming]]
*[[Heuristic]]
*[[Heuristic]]
*[[Algorithm]]
*[[Algorithm]]
{{Ref}}
{{Ref}}

Revision as of 11:57, 22 February 2021


In which the curmudgeonly old sod puts the world to rights.
Index — Click ᐅ to expand:

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Requests? Insults? We’d love to 📧 hear from you.
Sign up for our newsletter.

Machines are fungible: you can engineer the same machine and get the same results anywhere in the world. The difference in operating cost between the same piece of machinery here and there — essentially the difference in real estate and energy inputs — is an opportunity for arbitrage. [1]Machines are totally fungible. The meatware is not. To be sure one can generalise about people — it is hard not to — these are heuristics — rules of thumb, top be used provisionally and in the absence of better intelligence — and if we treat them as immutable rules on which we may rely we are asking for trouble.

See also

References

  1. Though it might be blown out by transport costs and material qualities, not to mention variability in the meatware.