Rise of the Machine

It's been a quiet weekend (calm before the storm: the folks are back on Tuesday) so I've had a bit of time to reflect on Miss Carsons comments on my last post, and to toy with one or two related ideas.
In 'The Austere Academy', the Baudelaires are informed that all of Count Olafs characteristics (from monobrow to tattooed ankle) have been programmed into an advanced computer, and that therefore they need not fear: Olaf will not be able to reach them. None of the adults in this story (except perhaps Olaf himself) see the gaping hole in this theory: how exactly is a computer (advanced or otherwise) supposed to help you when all it does is recognise your enemy? Any reader will instantly see this, and perhaps be inclined to think those characters a wee bit silly. And of course they are. The sting though, is that we do the very same thing.
Many of us half realise our increasing dependence on The Machine, but largely it's accepted as 'inevitable' and 'maybe not such a bad thing after all'. Now before I lose my entire non-hippie audience (probably everyone, that is), let me just say that The Machine isn't a bad thing. Neither is a rock, or a pool of water. But any of the three can kill a man. And we shouldn't be surprised if a creature made by little flawed gods is more treacherous than the beautifully dangerous creations of The Maker Himself.
The first of The Machines were invented to help us feed our stomachs and clothe our bodies: The wheel, the plough, the loom. Then came those which made life easier: The handcart, and the first of the chariots. In time men made that which was designed to amass wealth: The scale, and counting devices. After this came the engines of war and destruction: the mangonel, advanced ram, and trebuchet. Then almost last, the communication devices: the telegram, telephone, and television. And now - we have a Lord of Machines: the advanced computer, which makes life easier, enables many to amass wealth, can wreak destruction and havoc at the tap of a key, and facilitates communication in so many ways that it's almost absurd. It does not, significantly, clothe or feed us. However, the thing that takes this 'penultimate' Machine one step further than any of its predecessors, is the way it is now coming to dominate our human interaction. I would have said 'social life' but it has gone much further than the narrow sphere that phrase is commonly used for. It is beginning to govern the way we meet people (not just friends, but spouses, business associates, and enemies too), talk to people, share with people, manipulate people, and take from people. Beyond all this though, and more alarming, it enables us to 'change ourselves' to 'master our own image' (Hindi: avatar) to 'be the person we always wanted to be'. And hang it all, God (or fate/chance) must have got it wrong. He obviously mucked up when he made us, and it's lucky that we have modern technology to put things right. - The arrogance. We, the little tin gods, think that we can cover ourselves with mud, and say: Look - we are now ourselves.
So now we stand back and say - 'Naughty Machine! You have corrupted us.' No. It has brought our corruption to the surface. It has given us power, where before we had none. A Machine can do nothing without our command - the advanced computer was never going to catch Olaf and put him in prison. The responsibility to take action, to be who we are rather than who we'd like to be, to live and love like we should, - and the blame for not doing so - rests with us.