Consider the word "Robot." (Yes, I know, not the most promising beginning for a blog post. After all, why should anyone consider the word "robot"? (Thanks for asking that. You are of course, correct. There is no plausible reason you would want to consider the word "robot" right now. (But, then again, if you wanted to be reading something which has some hope of being relevant to your current thoughts or your life, you really shouldn't be reading this blog in the first place.))) Everyone knows what a robot is. Even if you speak a different language than English, it is likely that you use the word "robot."
Whence came the word? It was introduced to the world in 1920 in Karel Capek's play, R.U.R. (For the pedantic, Karel didn't invent the word; his older brother did.) I have known this bit of trivia for quite some time. I recently read the play. I am sorry to report that the trivia is far more interesting than the play.
Indeed, the play is so downright silly that it is a wonder the word caught on. Much to my surprise, the first introduction of the worked "robot" to the word is in a play about robots taking over the world. It also has robots which are indistinguishable from humans. The first robots were placid servants. Then a do-gooder convinces the makers of robots to give them more human emotions. The emotion our do-gooder wants to introduce is...are you ready for this?...irritation with humanity. So, the robots become irritated and decide they really hate humans and so they exterminate humanity. I wish I was making this up. Even better--the robots in the play are more human than the humans in the play. The humans have zero depth of character; the robots at least have something interesting about them.
In short, we owe the use the word "robot" to a really bad play. I suppose the play was a lot better in the early 1920s before everything in it became cliche. Maybe the problem is just that all old science fiction looks really silly later on. (Exhibit A here. I used to really like that show; I haven't seen it since I was a kid, though, and it is hard to imagine that I would enjoy it now.)
While on something resembling the subject: why is the idea of a robot which look like a human so appealing to people? Isn't it creepy to imagine having a robot around which could not be distinguished form a human? Why would anyone want such a thing? And does anyone still think it is a good idea after watching Blade Runner?
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Sounds like you should check out the Robots exhibition over at the Springfield Science Museum. The kids and I went last week for a little science field trip (You can do that in fake school). It was pretty cool; they loved it. Actually, you probably would have recognized some of the “movie star” robots that were visiting: C-3P0 (Star Wars), Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet), and Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still). Also, gouldhouse is very pleased with blog activity this week- Classes must be over:)
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