Mind, machines and manufacturing: a philosophical essay on machining

Manufacturing evolution provided more and more efficient techniques to extend the anthropometric capabilities of humans. From the Neolithic Revolution to the Digital Revolution, passing through Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, men invented new tools/systems to achieve objectives covering all the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: physiological, psychological, self-fulfillment needs. Nowadays, the complexity of society, manufacturing and information technology as well as industry makes challenging to delineate a comprehensive framework of the machining processes that could indicate the trend of the fabrication industry. This paper will provide an historical perspective of the manufacturing industry and its co-evolution in the actual society. In particular, a parallel between the advancement of computer science, information technologies and the machining processes will be presented by considering the description tools provided by different research areas.