Tausk described the Influencing Machine delusion as specific for schizophrenia. The author suggests rather that this is a universal unconscious fantasy with its sources in the early developmental life of most individuals. The delusion is created through displacement and projection of forbidden impulses. These impulses are then passively experienced, as if being forced upon the helpless subject.

Various manifestations of the fantasy can be demonstrated as occurring in non -psychotic thinking, in phobias, in demonology, and in literature, especially of the 'mad scientist' genre. The different beliefs about influencing forces through the ages are described, the suggestion is offered that a kind of 'obsolescence of delusions' occurs as society evolves. Certain motifs become passe and new ones arise. The author speculates on possible future forms.