# Machines Extend the Human Organism by Samuel Butler > "Machines are to be regarded as the mode of development by which human organism is now especially advancing, every past invention being an addition to the resources of the human body." > **— Samuel Butler's answering writer**, *1872, Erewhon, Chapter XXV* ## Sources and Context - **Full source:** [Samuel Butler, Erewhon, “The Book of the Machines”](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1906/pg1906-images.html). This is the answering writer's counter-position inside the novel, not the professor's thesis. The speaker is a fictional character in Butler's novel; the author stages more than one position. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor|AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] - **Article:** [[articles/Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta|Mind Uploading and AI — The Host is Reusable and the Person is the Delta]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Extended Mind Thesis|Extended Mind Thesis]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Erewhon|Erewhon]] - [[wiki/Extended Mind Thesis|Extended Mind Thesis]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "Machines are to be regarded as the mode of development by which human organism is now especially advancing, every past invention being an addition to the resources of the human body." — Samuel Butler's answering writer, 1872, Erewhon, Chapter XXV https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-butler-machines-extend-human-organism ```