Machinists rarely ponder the questions, "Do I really exist? If so, where am I?
Those two questions form the basis of Existentialist Thought.
One of the famous Existential thinkers was Rene Descartes. He does not exist anymore because he died February 11, 1650.
He is famous for a statement, "I think, therefore I am." He figured that since he was thinking, there must be an active part of the cosmos that could (at that time) be described as Rene Descartes.
Rene needed to figure out a way to map the cosmos so that he could find himself so he invented a kind of grid system. Cities are laid out using his system. The streets run north and south while the avenues go east and west (or vice-versa). In mathematics, the X-axis is drawn horizontally on a wall while the Y-axis is drawn vertically. CNC (Computer Numerical Control) folks locate points using Rene Descartes grid system. The grid system is even named after Rene.
The grid system is called "The Cartesian" grid system.
One has to wonder, "If we only used the X-axis, would that be X-istential? Could there be a Y-istential?"
Machinists have a different method of answering the philosophical question, "Where am I?"
Machinists simply hit themselves on the thumb with a hammer. Then the questions of existence and location become moot points. Lawyers then ask, "What are the X & Y coordinates of a moot point?" But machinists always know where they are - "Right Here Sucking My Sore Thumb!"
