These little creatures
are part of our own reproductive system; then why not we part of that of
the machines?
"But the machines which reproduce machinery do not reproduce machines
after their own kind. A thimble may be made by machinery, but it was not
made by, neither will it ever make, a thimble. Here, again, if we turn
to nature we shall find abundance of analogies which will teach us that a
reproductive system may be in full force without the thing produced being
of the same kind as that which produced it. Very few creatures reproduce
after their own kind; they reproduce something which has the potentiality
of becoming that which their parents were. Thus the butterfly lays an
egg, which egg can become a caterpillar, which caterpillar can become a
chrysalis, which chrysalis can become a butterfly; and though I freely
grant that the machines cannot be said to have more than the germ of a
true reproductive system at present, have we not just seen that they have
only recently obtained the germs of a mouth and stomach? And may not
some stride be made in the direction of true reproduction which shall be
as great as that which has been recently taken in the direction of true
feeding?
"It is possible that the system when developed may be in many cases a
vicarious thing.
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