Simple Thoughts Does calling something a machine really make it safer? I have often wondered at the ease with which some people classify all that lives, and all the systems that support them, as machines,predictable and controllable if we only take the time to REALLY UNDERSTAND what makes it all tick. The assumption is that All-That-Is is nothing more than clockwork,gears and pulleys, (neatly translated as instincts and automatic behavior) that can and should be manipulated to serve the interests of the manipulators. This, of course, presupposes that the manipulators are separate from and superior to the rest of the living universe. This, of course, will shortly make them very dead.