Engineering is the art of solving problems by combining existing machines into new machines, and harnessing the effects of the sub-machines to accomplish a novel effect.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, this is based on some of the core ideas in W. Brian Arthur’s masterful The Nature of Technology: What it Is and How it Evolves.
Many of the engineering scenes in TWOS are based on my own experience in the tech industry and serve as a fictional realization of my own view of engineering as a species of poetry. I hope that the beauty and joy of working with technology—the grand epic poem of our time—comes through in my words.
More recently, I’ve been learning some Minecraft engineering under the tutelage of my daughters. Working with redstone just reminded me again how insightful Arthur’s ideas on engineering are. It really is a lot like learning Chinese characters or Dara logograms or building with Legos or programming: you learn a basic set of components and then combine them into more complex mechanisms that evolve into components for yet grander, more complex machines until you have something utterly dizzying to contemplate. (Some of my daughters’ creations are breathtaking. They built this massive roller coaster with dozens of powerful beams of light illuminating it from below, and riding it was every bit as thrilling as the rides at theme parks.)
Besides being a great description of engineering, the quote here is also a great metaphor for writing fiction as well as how we make sense of our own lives as we adapt the ready components of what we learn and acquire into the grander, novel experience of who we are.
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