Re: Robot

Mike Adams wrote:
>
> It comes from Czech-Slovak. "Robotnik" or like.. Meaning like servant or
> like meaning. Coined by a old Sci-fi author/scientist c.1920 or so?
It comes from Czech.  I'm not sure of the original form, but I think it
was just "robot".  It's derived from a root meaning something like
"compulsory labor".  It was used in a play written somewhere around
1920, can't remember the exact date, called Rossum's Universal Robots, a
play about a man who invented mechanical servants, who eventually revolt
and destroy humanity.

Slightly OT: I've always felt those stories to be preposterous.  Why
would robots be given emotions like selfishness or pride or ambition?
If you believe in a purely materialistic view, emotions are still
explained by evolution - selfish creatures prospered, basically.
Emotions didn't appear accidentally.  If you believe in a spiritual
viewpoint, well, then I guess it's a matter of debate whether a robot
could have a soul, I doubt it.  But anyways, the most logical
programming would be a desire to serve, a sense of hierarchy and their
lowly position.  That's not to say that robots couldn't be harmful, or
even destroy humanity, but it would be a more subtle way, like the way
technology has polluted the environment, not technology actively
destroying humanity, but an accidental harm.  Perhaps robots might
weaken humanity, like Asimov's Spacers.

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I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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