Machines of Wonder and Elephants that Float through Air

The paper stands both as a review of von Foerster's valedictory work Understanding Understanding, and an analysis of what is argued to be the major theme in his work wonder examined through the material presented in Understanding Understanding. The theme is developed with reference to three machines that recur in von Foerster's work (making several appearances in the papers collected in Understanding Understanding) namely, Maxwell's Demon, Eigen Forms and the Non-Trivial Machine, and is in turn related to the final paper in the collection. Introduction to Natural Magic, which thus takes on the role of the key work of the collection.