Way back in the Orwellian year of 1984, James Cameron's movie "The Terminator" gave us a glimpse of a future swarming with cyborgs -- machines that have taken on a life of their own and turned against human beings.

Fifteen years later, we can be forgiven for thinking that we are already living in that future, except that the machines ruling our lives don't look as good as Arnold Schwarzenegger. They are still mostly rectangular or cuboid, and, despite the occasional rebellious flash of color (Sony Vaio blue, iMac tutti-frutti, Coke-machine red), their fashion sense remains relatively stunted: Metal or plastic in black, gray or chrome are still more or less "de rigueur" for the thoroughly modern machine.

Nevertheless, it does increasingly appear as if this vast, mechanized army has succeeded in conquering humanity, at least in the "developed" parts of the planet. Six main forces spearheaded the attack -- the telephone, the automobile, the television, the computer, the vending machine and the automatic-teller machine -- and the conquest has been so complete, and so insidious, that people are hardly aware that their lives have been effectively taken over.