Machines and Societies 
D. M. MACKAY 
the antithesis of all that is characteristically human. 
Certain functions in society—its hewing of wood and 
drawing of water—might be delegated to mechanical devices; 
but any implied resemblances between these and human agents 
are trivial. 
The past few decades, however, have seen a radical change in 
our whole conception of machines and their possibilities. With 
the growth of the science of communication and control, the 
idea of a machine has been so enlarged that few, if any, 
specifiable characteristics are in principle outside its scope. It 
becomes meaningful to ask not only what function machines 
may perform for society, but also how far societies themselves 
can be regarded as machines, and whether well-tried remedies 
for the ills of machines can be applied to corresponding dis- 
orders of society. Since the notion of mechanism is never far 
from that of manipulation, this question in turn raises a crop of 
others which go to the roots of our traditional conceptions of 
social responsibility. 
The present discussion accordingly falls into three parts. The 
first is concerned with the nature of the new scientific concepts 
that have so revolutionized our thinking. The second gives 
some examples of their relevance, both practical and theoretical, 
to human society and its government. In the third we take 
notice of some curious limitations which beset the would-be 
scientific investigator or manipulator of any society that includes 
himself. 
: ‘““MACHINE’’, in the classical sense of the term, represents 
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