> 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.

One of the books on my reading list for English this year is "Erewhon" by Samuel Butler. That has a very interesting bit explaining that the people in the fictional country of Erewhon have abandoned advanced machinery precisely because the machines have been developing by themselves, by needing to be upgraded all the time and controlling peoples' lives. Looked at from one angle it's simple paranoia, but from another...well, if you were dependent on another life form to make you develop, wouldn't you make sure they never found out what you were up to?

Si-"Decides not to include Hitch Hiker reference"-gi