[…] the computer is a device with the power and speed to meet the requirements of the limits of our imaginations. We need this power to compress evolutionary time and space so that results can be achieved more realistically in our life-times. The emphasis, however, rests in the techniques, in the demonstration of the theoretical model and technical feasibility, and in the workings of the thought experiment.Perhaps this computing without computers is the most important lesson to be learned from designing these tools. The real benefits are found in having to rethink explicitly and clearly the way in which we habitually do things. […] if an appropriate tool doesn’t exist, we design and construct one ourselves.It could further be argued that we do not need to build these tools, but could simulate their behaviour in the computer. The point is that by externalizing and materializing the inner processes of the computer, our physical models act like any architectural model by assisting understanding and visualization. Our models are not just tools which assist with the formative process, but tools of explanation.