Doc Bill
Posts: 1039
Joined: April 2007
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Surprisingly, one interesting thing came out of the Creepto exchange over on Smiledon's Retreat and that was an update to the Paley argument.
Paley imagined a pocket watch being found on the heath because the pocket watch was the most sophisticated instrument of his time. Likewise, Creepto imagines the cell as a computer because it is the most sophisticated instrument of his time (although I might vote for the non-stick pan - I digress.)
So, over on Ogre's site I imagined Paley finding a fully charged iPhone on the heath. He would pick it up and after a bit of fiddling let's say he turns it on. Magic, he would think! Sure, there's no ATT and no WiFi but he could run a few stand-alone apps and the camera.
Imagine his joy and wonder at this incredible thing!
But, by the next day when he gathered his scientific pals at his house, alas, the iPhone is discharged and sits there, mute and a black screen. Nothing Paley does can revive it.
Subsequently, he and his friends take it apart and what do they see? Nothing recognizable. Not a single part. It's just all black squares and strings of copper and a substance they can't recognize as plastic. It's a total mystery.
I thought about this given Creepto's fascination with his computer analogy. Why a computer? Because that's all he knows. He doesn't have the imagination to think beyond that analogy.
And, clearly, he doesn't have the faintest inkling about chemistry.
So, my question to my fellow Mornington Crescent travelers is this: what would you find on the heath?
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