Monday, March 29, 2010

YouTube - The Most Useless Machine EVER!


CUTE!


Edited to add:
Come to think of it... isn't it a sign that sometimes the most seemingly useless things can be the most beautiful and elegant demonstration of a Master's genius? Perhaps that's one reason God made "non-essential" and "useless" things like music, colours, laughter, smiles, friendships, taste, smell...

Shannon the geek god made the machine just for the sheer pleasure of it... not because he had to, but because he wanted to enjoy it, and to showcase the beauty of the power of logic.

And God made us humans just for the sheer joy of it... not because he had to, but simply because he wanted to enjoy us, and to showcase the beauty of the power of his love.

3 comments:

Weizhu said...

What is most amazing is who its inventor is...

Claude Shannon. Father of information theory.

And then one starts to realise a couple of things. One, there's a simple elegance, brilliance even, to this little machine. Essentially, it's a state-maintaining system. Two, this guy must really have enjoyed doing what he does. He must have loved it. He probably had a lot of fun.

His other great work is a mathematical theorem on juggling. Yeah, balls and hoops kind of juggling.

=)

yeu@nn said...

Oooh. That is fascinating. Yes, the beauty of this machine is its almost child-like insistence on maintaining its own state. Homeostasis... the ability to maintain a consistent internal state in spite of external influences.

Could one say that life is a beautifully written program?

Fun. Come to think of it... enjoying one's work really does wonders for your work... =)

yeu@nn said...

Come to think of it... isn't it a sign that sometimes the most seemingly useless things can be the most beautiful and elegant demonstration of a Master's genius?

Shannon the geek god made the machine just for the sheer pleasure of it... not because he had to, but because he wanted to enjoy it.

And God made us humans just for the sheer pleasure of it... not because He had to, but simply because he wanted to enjoy us.

Perhaps that's one reason God made "non-essential" and "useless" things like music, colours, laughter, smiles, friendships...