The Boy who Wanted to be a Machine

Commander Data from Star Trek is the machine who wanted to be a boy. The flip side of that is happening, too. Lots of people are slow-motion merging with the machine.

The Borg from Star Trek represent a hostile machine Empire that forcibly assimilates people. The reality is many people willingly and gleefully "assimilate". The machine is already here and has been for a long time; it just gets more obvious as electro-mechanical technology becomes more functional.

People will line up around the block for more fundamental merging with the machine.