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In complicated constructive explanations I describe automatic procedures (note 1). Thermostat-controlled heating is a typical example of an automatic process: If the thermometer exceeds a certain temperature, the heating is automatically switched off; if the thermometer falls below a certain temperature, the heating is automatically switched on again. Why do I call what I can describe so simply - at least in principle - a complicated explanation? A heating does not need thermostatic control. You can heat quite well without thermostats - even if you can hardly imagine this in highly technical countries. So the thermostat is an additional mechanism and that makes thermostat-controlled heating comparatively complicated. It has more mechanical parts and, above all, more functional dependencies that are explicitly designed than an unregulated heating system such as that used in Heron's temple doors. |
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On the phenomenological level - i.e. when you have as little idea about thermostatic regulation as most ancient Greeks had about the hidden temple door mechanism - the matter is relatively complex, because the heating reacts differently in different situations - and I can only produce exactly this type of phenomenon with relatively complicated mechanisms. Mechanisms that change their own state appear to be really complex. In the case of a thermostat-controlled heating system, for example, this is the case if someone changes the setpoint from time to time without my knowledge (note 2).
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Look for a few more regulated mechanisms ! Think about how they work and which phenomenon they produce. |
Our environment is full of vending machines. And only very rarely do we think about how all this works; mostly only when they don't work. |
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Examples:
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I use the expressions "complex" and "complicated", in other words, from different observer perspectives. Complex is a phenomenon I cannot understand, complicated is an explanation when it describes a complicated mechanism. A mechanism is the more complicated the more developed or the higher its structural level is.
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