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Mostrando las entradas de febrero 26, 2015

Representations as Tools

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Regarding tools, it is impossible to account for their form without mention of function. Consider a simple tool like a hammer. In order to explain why hammers are the way they are, i It would be impossible to explain why a hammer is shaped as it is, or why it is not fluffier and made of cardboard without mentioning what it is for. Furthermore, it is also impossible to explain why our tools are the way they are independently of how we are ourselves. It makes no sense trying to explain why hammers have the dimensions they have without referring to the size of our arms and hands. Even if aliens developed hammers, it is very unlikely that they would be similar in shape to ours if aliens were not also similar in shape and physiology to us. In general, technology is strongly shaped, among other factors, by constraints on how users are and what they can and cannot do as much as what goals such users wish to achieve through their use of such tools. So far, this must not be controversial.