> I don't quite "get" that. Yes, machines do a
lot of work - but it's not like they were beamed
down here by an unknown alien race. We
made them. We designed them specifically to
do what they do. As such, the chances of the
machines having some sort of sinister
agenda of their own or somesuch are slim.

Funny you should bring up the concept of
using unknown alien technology... that's
exactly the premise of the SF-novel series I'm
currently reading. It's the Heechee saga by
Frederik Pohl and quite interesting.

Anyway, it's not so much a fear that the
machines are out to get me or anything. Just
airing my aggravation at realizing how little I
could do (admittedly of the things that I'm
*used* to doing and *trained* to do) when my
access to my computer was taken away,
however briefly.

> So my point, as I said, is that I don't
understand that feeling of "trapped by the
machines" that you and many other people
express.

Well, I don't feel trapped by the machines
either. Most of the time I go about my
business and take what the machines are
doing for granted. It's only when they do break
down that I even think about how dependent
we are on them.

> To my thinking, machines make the world a
much less confining place, and allow us
freedom and flexibility that we'd never have
otherwise.

Amen to that. I'd much rather give up the two
hours lost to computer malfunction than
spend years of my life hunched over a drawing
board or light table doing everything by hand
like it was done ten years ago.

>For example, without machines, and without
computers, you wouldn't even have the term
"(cr)," and you *certainly* wouldn't be able to
insert one at the end of every single line you
type into a text entry field. ;-}

"(cr)?" As in "copyright?" I'm not sure I
understand this last little bit of your post. You'd
better explain it to me...

Gri"by the way, our network guru did track
down the problem finally... and it was all
Darien's fault, naturally"shny