“What things are contemporary? Consider a late model car. It is a disparate aggregate of scientific and technical solutions dating from different periods. One can date it component by component: this part was invented at the turn of the century, another, ten years ago, and Carnot’s cycle is almost two hundred years old.” – Michel Serres (1995)

“Rabadan suggests the way to think of this flu is like a homemade car with parts from different vehicles. The parts have all been in several different vehicles before. Sometimes the combination of parts is a dud and the car doesn’t move. And sometimes you get a race car. A pandemic is a race car.” – Associated Press (5 May 2009)