Is it though? There isn’t one part in the human body that has exactly one specific purpose. Everything is something mushy with basically one main purpose and a ton of side-quests. Almost the exact opposite of what engineers prefer.
I dunno, eyeballs are pretty much unitaskers. Vision gets used to help reinforce balance, reflexes, and proprioception, but that’s all in the brain.
Teeth might be debatable. Arguably they’re only for masticating food. The debate opens up whether other functions are physiological and so compulsory, social constructs, or neurological things we do instinctively.
With everything else, I 100% agree. It’s all an engineering nightmare to service and troubleshoot.
Close enough? As the eyeball lubrication system, I’d call tear ducts part of the eyeball unit. 🤷🏻 Hell, everything is ultimately part of the same unit, even the bacteria that’s not “us”.
“Commander Riker has dramatically demonstrated to this court that Lieutenant Commander Data is a machine. Do we deny that? No. Because it is not relevant. We too are machines, just machines of a different type.”
Engineering isn’t so different from medical.
Is it though? There isn’t one part in the human body that has exactly one specific purpose. Everything is something mushy with basically one main purpose and a ton of side-quests. Almost the exact opposite of what engineers prefer.
Squeezing multiple features into single components? Sounds exactly like what engineers do.
Um, can you let the engineers know that?
I dunno, eyeballs are pretty much unitaskers. Vision gets used to help reinforce balance, reflexes, and proprioception, but that’s all in the brain.
Teeth might be debatable. Arguably they’re only for masticating food. The debate opens up whether other functions are physiological and so compulsory, social constructs, or neurological things we do instinctively.
With everything else, I 100% agree. It’s all an engineering nightmare to service and troubleshoot.
In humans, the teeth are also used heavily for communication - both visual displays and making noises.
What other functions do the eyes do than seeing?
Circadian rhythm maintenance.
Melatonin is broken down in the eye by blueish light. When this stops, the melatonin levels begin to climb, leading to tiredness.
This is also why phones etc keep you awake.
hurt
Eyes have a huge role in communication.
I don’t think I’d count that as explicitly a physical bodily function.
But a function nonetheless, and it’s been one for millions of years and since before we were human.
Crying to release endorphins. That count?
Tear ducts, sure. But eyeballs?
Close enough? As the eyeball lubrication system, I’d call tear ducts part of the eyeball unit. 🤷🏻 Hell, everything is ultimately part of the same unit, even the bacteria that’s not “us”.
“Commander Riker has dramatically demonstrated to this court that Lieutenant Commander Data is a machine. Do we deny that? No. Because it is not relevant. We too are machines, just machines of a different type.”