The American man is a very simple and cheap mechanism. The American woman I find a complicated and expensive one. Contrasts of fem...inine types are possible. I am not absolutely sure that there is more than one American man.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Why do our bodies wear out? Why can't we just go on and on and on, accumulating a potentially infinite number of Frequent Flyer mi...leage points? These are the kinds of questions that philosophers have been asking ever since they realized that being a philosopher did not involve any heavy lifting. And yet the answer is really very simple. Our bodies are mechanical devices, they break down. Some devices, such as battery-operated toys costing $39.95, break down almost instantly upon exposure to the Earth's atmosphere. Other devices, such as stereo systems owned by your next-door neighbor's 13-year-old son who likes to listen to bands with names like "Nerve Damage," at a volume capable of disintegrating limestone, will continue to function perfectly for many years, even if you hit them with an ax. But the fundamental law of physics is that sooner or later every mechanism ceases to function for one reason or another, and it is never covered under the warranty.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A man may build a complicated piece of mechanism, or pilot a steamboat, but not more than five out of ten know how the apple got i...nto the dumpling.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
This we take it is the grand characteristic of our age. By our skill in Mechanism, it has come to pass, that in the management of ...external things we excel all other ages; while in whatever respects the pure moral nature, in true dignity of soul and character, we are perhaps inferior to most civilised ages.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A law explains a set of observations; a theory explains a set of laws. The quintessential illustration of this jump in level is th...e way in which Newton's theory of mechanics explained Kepler's law of planetary motion. Basically, a law applies to observed phenomena in one domain (e.g., planetary bodies and their movements), while a theory is intended to unify phenomena in many domains. Thus, Newton's theory of mechanics explained not only Kepler's laws, but also Galileo's findings about the motion of balls rolling down an inclined plane, as well as the pattern of oceanic tides. Unlike laws, theories often postulate unobservable objects as part of their explanatory mechanism. So, for instance, Freud's theory of mind relies upon the unobservable ego, superego, and id, and in modern physics we have theories of elementary particles that postulate various types of quarks, all of which have yet to be observed.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
When one of us dies of cancer, loses her mind, or commits suicide, we must not blame her for her inability to survive an ongoing p...olitical mechanism bent on the destruction of that human being. Sanity remains defined simply by the ability to cope with insane conditions.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The law isn't justice. It's a very imperfect mechanism. If you press exactly the right buttons and are also lucky, justice may sho...w up in the answer. A mechanism is all the law was ever intended to be.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »