MADE IN CYLAND

First machines intimidated. A mass of inanimate metal, arranged in an inexplicable fashion, moved on its own, clanged, rattled, crushed and squashed.

That thing, endowed with characteristics of a living being, did not have a common language with humans, and, while controlling it, its creator vaguely realized that his power over his creation was illusory. The revolt of machines, machinocracy, overtaking of the planet by machines, doom of mankind – such grim fantasies were brought about by the view of a conveyor belt, a locomotive, a turbo, or a cannon. Approximately the same feelings are brought about by the protozoa. The point is not that they spray with venom, lash with stingers or entwine with flagella. We can do it as well. The point is that it is impossible to negotiate with them. The program that is built into them by nature, does not respond.

The authors of Protozoa deprived their primitive “robot” of displays, buttons or control panels – the communication adornments that give the user an illusion of control – and left the creator one on one with the tongueless creature.