The Machine Metaphor

• The idea of the state as a machine arises from our state’s centralized ‘work & reward’ model. Essentially, each facet of society works unilaterally along the idea that, as a whole, we can approach an idealistic life style.
• Each person within this model is seen as a cog, wheel, or moving part in a machine. Each person is just as individualistic as the last, as well as just as important to the success of the machine as a whole. There is, however, an exception, a hierarchy of sorts.
• At the top of the hierarchy, operating as a central command scheme within the machine is the government, the highest body of state authority. Immediately below the government is the upper of only 2 classes. This upper class consists of those top 10% income earners, the bread winners, also seen as the pivotal cogs in our machine. These upper class members are the elite in society, they maintain their status by providing aid / benefits to the lower class. For example, if the state population is increasing and more jobs are needed, an upper class factory worker will be expected to expand in order to create more jobs and, in turn, benefit the state as a whole financially. This is an analog to how a large pulley in a machine is needed to move many other smaller levers, gears, cogs, etc.
• Lastly, to conclude this machine metaphor, of course we have everyone else, the primary class citizens, bulk of the population, majority share holders in the bulk of the machine market place. The primary class comprises everyone except for government and upper class members, these people are responsible for the functioning of the machine as a whole.
• Each cog is unique, important, and contributes to the efficiency, stability, and power of the machine; however, many of these little cogs can be dysfunctional while maintaining overall machine functioning, which may not be true for the other government and upper classes.
• Mozian integration:

• ” Rank was awarded on the basis of virtue, work was assigned according to office, reward was distributed according to amount of labor done, and salary allotted in proportion to the effort expended” (Mozi, chapter 8)

•   “Honoring the worthy is the root and basis of good government” (Mozi, chapter 8)

• These Mozi quotations extenuate our societal division. The upper class is exclusive of “worthy” people, they are upper class and worthy due to the effort they’ve expended to get there. This also reveals the possibility of progressing to the upper class, that though The Mozian Way one may become worthy.