(July 16, 2013 at 11:06 pm)Consilius Wrote: If there are no connections, we have a pile of metal. A machine does work and cannot do so if the metal does not compose its parts.
But metal does compose its parts and even without the connections it'd still be a machine.
But, since this simple concept regarding the identity of an object seems to be above your understanding, let's simplify the matter. The unbreakable fragments are joined together by unbreakable nuts and bolts made of the same unbreakable metal - is the machine unbreakable now?
(July 16, 2013 at 11:06 pm)Consilius Wrote: Sodium chloride is neither sodium nor chloride. The universe is life, stars, Mars, and space, all of which retain their attributes.
The sodium atoms and the chlorine atoms retain their attributes within the compound - and yet those attributes are nowhere to be seen in the whole
(July 16, 2013 at 11:06 pm)Consilius Wrote: Light is not an inescapable element. It can be there, or it cannot, in different wavelengths and varying amounts. It is a variable, not a component of anything.
We are fixing it to a certain value. The attributes of the parts still disappear in the whole.
(July 16, 2013 at 11:06 pm)Consilius Wrote: Atoms are not invisible. Concepts are invisible. We can see atoms if we have a microscope. Atoms would be huge to an organism small enough with functioning eyes.
Actually, you can't see them the way you see other objects. So they are invisible.