are sick; and in either burying their dead or working up their deceased
members into new forms of mechanical existence.

"The very nature of the motive power which works the advancement of the
machines precludes the possibility of man's life being rendered miserable
as well as enslaved. Slaves are tolerably happy if they have good
masters, and the revolution will not occur in our time, nor hardly in ten
thousand years, or ten times that. Is it wise to be uneasy about a
contingency which is so remote? Man is not a sentimental animal where
his material interests are concerned, and though here and there some
ardent soul may look upon himself and curse his fate that he was not born
a vapour-engine, yet the mass of mankind will acquiesce in any
arrangement which gives them better food and clothing at a cheaper rate,
and will refrain from yielding to unreasonable jealousy merely because
there are other destinies more glorious than their own.

"The power of custom is enormous, and so gradual will be the change, that
man's sense of what is due to himself will be at no time rudely shocked;
our bondage will steal upon us noiselessly and by imperceptible
approaches; nor will there ever be such a clashing of desires between man
and the machines as will lead to an encounter between them. Among
themselves the machines will war eternally, but they will still require
man as the being through whose agency the struggle will be principally
conducted. In point of fact there is no occasion for anxiety about the
future happiness of man so long as he continues to be in any way
profitable to the machines; he may become the inferior race, but he will
be infinitely better off than he is now. Is it not then both absurd and
unreasonable to be envious of our benefactors? And should we not be
guilty of consummate folly if we were to reject advantages which we
cannot obtain otherwise, merely because they involve a greater gain to
others than to ourselves?

"With those who can argue in this way I have nothing in common. I shrink
with as much horror from believing that my race can ever be superseded or
surpassed, as I should do from believing that even at the remotest period
my ancestors were other than human beings. Could I believe that ten
hundred thousand years ago a single one of my ancestors was another kind
of being to myself, I should lose all self-respect, and take no further
pleasure or interest in life. I have the same feeling wit