The computer model that once explained the British economy (and the new one that explains the world)

Genius.
Here's the original Phillips (he of the curve) Machine:

 

The Phillips Machine. Photograph: Graham Turner 

From the headline article at the Guardian.

Here's the schematic, from the New York Times:

Two weeks ago, while visiting Cambridge University, I arranged to have lunch with my friend Allan McRobie. He’s a professor of engineering, so it seemed a bit strange that he kept insisting we meet at the department of applied economics. “There’s something there you’ve really got to see,” he said in his Liverpudlian lilt. “It’s utterly fab. Just brilliant. The Phillips machine — it uses water to predict the economy.”...MORE

 

Schematic diagram of the Phillips machine. ( Click to enlarge.)

And here's the latest incarnation:

Genius squared.

The second schematic is from a post on GE's Mark I nuclear reactor at ZeroHedge!