Strictly speaking, using that definition, a computer is not a machine, since it uses electromagnetical power rather than mechanical 
Does using an array of hamster wheels for creating this power qualify?
lol what have i done? I released a monster…
By today’s advancements & knowledge, it should be an old interpretation, since it’s excluding EM & quantum mechanics. 
&
Hamsters? “… together performing a particular task.” Are machine. Hummm… Then maybe it’s them building planets and we’re running in hope to achieve happiness. Looks like Douglas was wrong after all.
Well, at least we got that sorted… or not. Damn, now i’m gonna rage against the machine. 
cheers
& Have fun
Hi. You all got this totally wrong… Any old time Corona user knows that hamsters has nothing to do with Corona - it’s all about Ponies!
If I had a dual CPU setup or bigger, I would go with ponies, too. For my single CPU, hamsters work just fine.
OTOH, I would not upgrade to ponies if I got my hands on a unicorn. It is never easy to decide …
Yes, it might be better with unicorns
But the question remains - are a bunch of Ponies running in their hamster wheels (in order to render a nice archviz image) considered a machine?
The definition could go pretty broad here. I mean, what about a bunch of people working together for a common goal? Do they constitute a machine? Hell, our whole planet could be taken as a machine, broadly speaking…
why not, if they did the work & action is done 
so spoke Zarathustra… nice example lies in the phrase deus ex machina - a plot device or a mean to a cause or an engine… giving “machine” a superlative meaning
& making my dream come true
to one day get my hands on a unicorn farting a rainbow so i can go on a quest to save my goldielock princess from the wrath of a shard dragon (RT rendering true volumetric iridescence?)
wraaaarggghhh