The differences between variable capital and constant capital could be exemplified in the variation between minimum wage and rent.The human being is no longer a component of the machine but a worker, a user... Of course, it was the modern State and capitalism that brought the triumph of the machines, in particular of motorized machines...; but what we are referring to now are technical machines, which are definable extrinsically.
[...]
The wage regime can therefore take the subjection of human beings to an unprecedented point, and exhibit a singular cruelty, yet still be justified in its humanist cry: No, human beings are not machines, we don't treat them like machines, we certainly don't confuse variable capital and constant capital...
-_____-Physicists Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont allege that A Thousand Plateaus contains many passages that use pseudo-scientific language.