There is an old saying that goes something like this: "Give a person a hammer, and the whole world looks like a nail." Indeed, the ways in which we see the world are deeply influenced by the tools and media at our disposal. If we are given new tools and media, not only can we accomplish new tasks, but we begin to view the world in new ways. Often, we hardly recognize how our tools and media are influencing our ways of viewing the world. For several centuries now, scientists have described the world in terms of differential equations. Is that because differential equations are the best way to represent and describe the world? Or is it because the common media of the era (paper and pencil) are well suited to manipulations of differential equations? Could we say: "Give a scientist paper and pencil, and the whole world looks like a set of differential equations?"
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