on machines and finding purpose

photo credit: Davide Dellacasa

     This is a quote from the child protagonist of the movie "Hugo".  It's simple, but striking enough to make a person think about purpose.


     I'd imagine the whole world was one big machine.  Machines never come with any extra parts, you know.  They always come with the exact amount they need.  So I figured, if the entire world was one big machine, I couldn't be an extra part.  I had to be here for some reason.
     -- Hugo Cabret (from the film "Hugo" by Martin Scorsese)


     The machines being referred to here are machines with lots of gears in the early 20th century.  The setting is Paris, France after World War I.  The film "Hugo" is visually remarkable, and it makes use of the 3D well in the artistic sense.  It is essentially a tribute to the early days of cinema, so I think this can get a lot of attention from organizations dedicated to film-making.

photo credit: Alessandro Prada

machines from the first half of the 20th century vs. machines from the second half of the 20th century -- this is an example of what we call as big difference