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which modified their own rules of behavior would show features which had not been foreseen by anyone designing them” (ibid., Part 2). “Turing concluded that the function of the brain was that of a machine, but one so complex that it could have the appearance of not following any rule” (ibid.). In today’s computer science the hot topic is “neural networks,” so called because they imitate the parallel architecture of the brain, and execute computations that can deviate from a programmer’s explicit plan. They “learn” by varying the strength of connections between logical nodes, just as neural pathways get “burned” into the brain through repetition, as when one practices the piano or recites Latin noun declensions. If there is any hope for artificial intelligence, it probably lies in this direction.

15 The fragility of digitized information is like that of language; omitting the word “not” from a sentence may reverse its meaning. And of course this is no mere analogy; digitized information is a representation of the world by language, in a sense. But consider. The omission of the word “not” from an English sentence can usually be detected (for example, by a copy editor) because it will seem wrong given the context. The omission can then be discounted; natural language is robust in this way. The fragility of code is due to the fact that it is a set of instructions for a mechanical device, rather than a locus of meaning, as language is. In comprehending a word or a sentence, a human being integrates it with the larger context of a paragraph, or the pragmatics of some communicative situation (a joke, for example) —in any case, with some wider sphere of meaning. Doing so seems to be the special province of mind.

16 Maybe if you spend big money on a Fluke meter, rather than a Craftsman, you don’t get this problem. I don’t know. In any case it’s a strange name to give to a measuring instrument, since one criterion of a true measurement is that it is repeatable. A mechanic who is paranoid could be forgiven for suspecting there is some massive joke being played out.

17 John Muir, How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive, first published in 1969.

18 Thus, in working on a 2005 Suzuki GSX-R 600, you should heed the following: “When using the multi-circuit tester, do not storongly [sic] touch the terminal of the ECM coupler with a needle pointed tester probe to prevent the terminal damage or terminal bend.” I take this to mean: Be gentle with the ECM coupler; its pins are easily bent. If you should get trouble code C42, the problem is “Ignition switch signal is not input to the ECM. *When the I.D. agreement is not verified.” Scanning the bottom of the page for the asterisk, we find “Immobilizer system is equipped model only,” which I take to mean, only on models equipped with an immobilizer system. The first example is from page 4-34, GSX-R 600 Suzuki Service Manual, the second from page 4-31.

19 John R. Searle, “Minds, Brains, and Programs,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3, no. 3 (September 1980).

20 In modern motorcycle manuals, you often come across a little emblem next to the description of some repair procedure, accompanied by the words “use special tool number xx-xxx.” Often as not these tools can be improvised, once you know what the tool is. So if you work at an independent shop you try to figure out what the tool might actually be by considering the task before you, and what needs to happen. It’s a matter of reverse-engineering the tool, from function to form. This is another instance where you have to peer through the obscurities in the manual and refer them to the facts before you. At a dealership you would just go to the service manager and ask for tool number xx-xxx.

8: Work, Leisure, and Full Engagement

1 In Bill Penington, “Perfection Is Afterthought, Some Perfect Examples Say,” New York Times, Sunday, February 3, 2008, front page and p. 20.

2 Talbot Brewer, personal communication.

3 Simone Polillo, Structuring Financial Elites: Conservative Banking and the Local Sources of Reputation in Italy and the United States, 1850-