Interface, Interaction, Autonomy

Delanda makes some rather sweeping pronouncements about periodization in addition to setting up some key oppositions (clockwork, motor, e.g.). I'm interested in your take on these examples of periodization and the terms of analysis. To his various taxonomies (of stages, components, and oppostions) "work" to make sense out of the changes he describes? Which ones did you find most productive or least and why? One of the key tensions that emerges in his account is that between automation and interactivity -- this is a recurring theme in the class and I'm wondering if you found Delanda's contributions useful in considering the relationship between the two. As Delanda puts it, "one and the same program may be used to take human beings out of the decision-making loop or, on the contrary, interfaced with them so as to create a synergistic whole. It is the design of the interface which will decide whether the machinic phylum will cross between men and machines, whetehr humans and computers will enter into a symbiotic relationship, or whether humans will be replaced by machines" (176). Much hangs on the interface, according to this account. How convincing is this account, and what does Delanda provide in the way of thinking about the interface design for symbiotic purposes?