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Robot Day
“You just can't differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans.”
~ Isaac Asimov, I, Robot, 1950
Be careful, folks! They're not all C-3POs and R2-D2s. This three-dimensional tartan, evocative of the layering of vintage robot innards, old-fashioned core memory and circuit boards, ensures that all sentient and fashionable robotic beings may be traditionally attired for the upcoming robot revolution. Once the stuff of science fiction, robots have made inroads in every sphere of human life! The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by the science fiction author Isaac Asimov which were introduced in his 1942 short story "Runaround" from his 1950 anthology "I Robot." Fictionally taken from the "Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058" they are:
1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws
Asimov eventually added a "Zeroth Law" - stating that a robot may not injure humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. Today, we have debates on Roboethics, Transhumanism, Military Robots, and the ethics of Artificial Intelligence. If you are consciously or unconsciously leading the robot revolution by allowing robots in your home, just to help with the housework of course, you still might want to keep a weather eye on them ... just in case! What could go wrong? Beep! Beep! 🤖
"Danger, Will Robinson! Warning! Warning! That does not compute!
These immortal lines were uttered by one of the crew of the fictional Jupiter 2, the spaceship in the 1965 television series, "Lost in Space," the Class B-9-M-3 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot, known simply as Robot.
This three-dimensional tartan, designed by Carol A.L. Martin, is reminiscent of the layering of vintage robot innards, old-fashioned core memory and circuit boards.
The term "robot" was first used to denote fictional automata in the 1921 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. The play replaced the former popular use of the word "automaton" with the word "robot." In the play, the robots overthrow their human creators!
Today, the robot revolution is here, changing how we live, for better or worse.
For more on the history of robots, click the robot!