Author Topic: When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?  (Read 2900 times)

Offline Necrosnoop110

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When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?
« on: November 12, 2016, 12:13:51 PM »
Tool [Merriam Webster]
1 :  a handheld device that aids in accomplishing a task
2 :  something (as an instrument or apparatus) used in performing an operation or necessary in the practice of a vocation or profession <a scholar's books are his tools>

Rock [Merriam Webster]
2 :  a concreted mass of stony material; also :  broken pieces of such masses

Q: Where is the line drawn between a rock as a rock laying on the ground and a rock as a tool when used by someone to hammer a stick into the ground by hand for example? Is the rock only a tool when used as a tool? But there is a noun use for the word tool not just a verb? Would the unmodified rock be a rock before use, become a tool during use, and then revert back to just being a "normal" rock after use? Or is a unmodified rock always a tool? That doesn't seem right. 

Before I looked up the definition of tool I thought a tool had to be modified, machined, or manufactured in some way. Like a rock is just a stone but once we chip off an edge then it becomes a stone-tool. But it appears that modification is not required.

Thoughts?

 
« Last Edit: November 12, 2016, 12:17:10 PM by Necrosnoop110 »

Offline ketaro

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Re: When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2016, 02:06:44 PM »
The moment you interact with the rock it is no longer a rock. It becomes a tool, a weapon, a curio for a collection, a single part to a larger piece of art (or the entire artwork itself if it's a super funky looking rock).

I imagine once a rock has been assigned a duty, it can never be just a rock anymore because now whoever assigned that rock it's role will always associate it with that role first and as a rock second.

Offline Necrosnoop110

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Re: When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2016, 03:29:39 PM »
The moment you interact with the rock it is no longer a rock. It becomes a tool, a weapon, a curio for a collection, a single part to a larger piece of art (or the entire artwork itself if it's a super funky looking rock).

I imagine once a rock has been assigned a duty, it can never be just a rock anymore because now whoever assigned that rock it's role will always associate it with that role first and as a rock second.
Thanks for the response! (I have no secret agenda here just exploring the concepts)

Ok, lets run with the 'once a rock is used as a tool' it is forevermore a tool idea ... 

Person A: Is walking along a trail and picks up rock and uses it as a tool to bust open a coconut. He sets the rock down after using the rock. It is now a tool. He leaves it on the ground no worse for the wear and goes home.

Person B: Comes along the same trail and picks up that same rock to bust open her own coconut. The rock looks identical to all the other rocks in the area. Was the rock a tool for Person B before or after she picked it up and used it as a tool? If the rock has forever more been turned into a tool by Person A is there anyway (without high-tech gadgetry) for Person B to know so casually, if that rock looks the same as all the other rocks in the area?   

Offline Solo

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Re: When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?
« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2016, 03:55:53 PM »
Biologists who study tool use among animals consider any environmental object that is manipulated to aid in a task (using a rock to bash open a coconut, for example) to count as "tool use". So from this perspective, everything is a tool (or has the potential to be a tool), depending on how it is used.

This is not a new concept. I would venture to say it applies to much of what we experience in everyday life as well. Some people, for instance, no matter what they do or do not do, have always been tools.
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Offline Necrosnoop110

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Re: When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2016, 05:08:36 PM »
Biologists who study tool use among animals consider any environmental object that is manipulated to aid in a task (using a rock to bash open a coconut, for example) to count as "tool use". So from this perspective, everything is a tool (or has the potential to be a tool), depending on how it is used.
A definition that literally encompasses everything in the universe is a weak definition, no?


This is not a new concept. I would venture to say it applies to much of what we experience in everyday life as well. Some people, for instance, no matter what they do or do not do, have always been tools.
:lol

Offline dman11235

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Re: When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?
« Reply #5 on: November 12, 2016, 10:06:33 PM »
It's more that it is a rock as it lies on the side of the road, and then a tool when it is in your hands.  These are not mutually exclusive terms.  It never ceases to be a rock.
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Offline Solo

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Re: When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?
« Reply #6 on: November 12, 2016, 10:14:30 PM »
Biologists who study tool use among animals consider any environmental object that is manipulated to aid in a task (using a rock to bash open a coconut, for example) to count as "tool use". So from this perspective, everything is a tool (or has the potential to be a tool), depending on how it is used.
A definition that literally encompasses everything in the universe is a weak definition, no?
No.
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Offline awaken_D_M_golem

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Re: When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?
« Reply #7 on: November 16, 2016, 04:59:34 PM »
I always like it when Person A comes along and turns my tool into a rock.

No comment about Person B ...  :hmm
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Offline Nanshork

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Re: When Does a (Unmodified) Rock Become a Tool?
« Reply #8 on: November 16, 2016, 05:12:11 PM »
I always like it when Person A comes along and turns my tool into a rock.

No comment about Person B ...  :hmm

 :lmao