There is also a worry that the leaders of some current and aspirant nuclear powers may be less risk-averse than their cold-war analogues.
Possibly, the nanotubes are acting as analogues of the natural protein channels that pump water in and out of cells.
But a decade from now, Mr Coburn says, virtually the entire population will be digital natives or immigrants, as the ageing analogues convert to avoid social isolation.
Rough analogues are Maltese and Luxembourgish: they are official in Malta and Luxembourg, but in both countries people are routinely bilingual, and most official business is done in other languages (English in Malta, French and German in Luxembourg).
Nashism has several analogues, Mr Illarionov argues, in countries such as Libya, Chad and Syria.Piffle, says Vyacheslav Nikonov, a Kremlin-friendly political analyst.
Security-conscious companies, from banks to newspapers, often hire, if not thieves, then the analogues of thieves, to test their computer systems for weaknesses.
Today, he says, some 70% of the world's population are "analogues", who are "terrified by technology", and for whom the pain of technology "is not just the time it takes to figure out new gadgets but the pain of feeling stupid at each moment along the way".
Similarly, the Fed's decision to throw its weight behind Bear Stearns, American International Group and Citigroup, had its analogues abroad: the Bank of England provided a lifeline for Northern Rock and the Swiss National Bank later backstopped UBS.
Moreover, billions of analogues will eventually become digital immigrants, whether for fear of social isolation in rich countries or, in developing countries such as India and China, because they will be able to afford to.
Whether that is because of their unequalled wisdom, because the IT industry is full of males who are too caught up with technology to have met many women other than their mothers, or because of a misogynist streak that suspects women of a certain age to be diehard analogues is a moot point.Grandmothers, sisters, teenage daughters and other female kin also have their place.
And so it goes on.Admittedly, in America, where about half of all internet households now have high-speed ("broadband") connections, these AOL customers are so-called "late adopters", or "analogues".
