[ Some (most) would find the affectation odd but Abel finds it marvelous for all of its oddness. Machines are not made to be odd, for oddity implies inefficiency and inefficiency is death for any line of products that markets itself as "better than the real thing". For machines that "improvement" meant a rigidity of thought, a predictability of behavior, and a demeanor determined by pre-determined constructs, unable to adapt or evolve beyond its own parameters. It is reliability, coupled with control; it is performance without any vestige of choice.

Abel shrugs lightly. ] It's as much a part of them as everything else. With the good comes the bad, I suppose. Or does that make me sound too defeatist?