[neosat]

This metaphor may be misleading. For a compelling alternate view, read the excellent: "Is the cell really a machine?" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00225...

From the article:

"It has become customary to conceptualize the living cell as an intricate piece of machinery, different to a man-made machine only in terms of its superior complexity ......"

" ..... However, the recent introduction of novel experimental techniques capable of tracking individual molecules within cells in real time is leading to the rapid accumulation of data that are inconsistent with an engineering view of the cell ...... which emphasizes the dynamic, self-organizing nature of its constitution, the fluidity and plasticity of its components, and the stochasticity and non-linearity of its underlying processes."

[akomtu]

At the scale of a cell, magnetic field becomes like water - a real tangible thing that dominates physics. We have a bunch of formulas that explain the magnetic field, but we lack intuitive understanding that's gained with practice. This is what I think makes a cell so incomprehensible to us: things we can create are so large that the magnetic field is negligible, and our engineered systems behave like a bunch of gears.