The idea of creating imitations of ourselves has always fascinated us humans. In Greek mythology, the sculptor Pygmalion brought his statue Galatea to life. The ancient Chinese scholar Daoxuan spoke of creating “metallic people” to weep when the Buddha Shakyamuni died. The humanoid Golem haunted medieval Jewish dreams. Whether they’re evil or good, sexy or sweet – our fascination with robots always seems to reflect on ourselves. They may be exhilarating, frightening, or inspiring, but they’re never boring. Because, after all, they are Us.
Click on any image to enlarge it, or to begin slide show.
“It doesn’t matter whether there’s blood in your veins or hydraulic fluid, it’s everyone’s right to be free.” ~W.H. Mitchell
“Self-awareness is a gift. And it is a gift no thinking thing has any right to deny another. No thinking thing should be another thing’s property, to be turned on and off when it is convenient.” ~C. Robert Cargill
“You can’t be rude to a coffee grinder and only an idiot would thank it for pulverizing beans. But you…probably should unplug it if it doesn’t shut up.” ~Andrew Smith
“Just my luck. The first colleague I’d befriended at the agency and it was an alcoholic supercomputer.” ~Seth Fried
“We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.” ~Stephen Hawking
“I am not afraid of robots. I am afraid of people, people, people. I want them to remain human.” ~Ray Bradbury
“To hurt is as human as to breathe.” ~J.K. Rowling
“Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor.” ~Alexis Carrel
“Nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” ~C.S. Lewis
“Neither Man nor machine can replace its creator.” ~Tapan Ghosh
Mitch Teemley 
Hi, Optimus!
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Reblogged this on Blue Dragon Journal.
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The C. S. Lewis quote is one of my favourite bits of wisdom from the man who offered us so any. I have to admit, I would happily have a robot house cleaner!
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;>) Roomba’s working on it.
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🙏😄🇨🇦
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That would be Rosie from The Jetsons, whom I did not notice in the slide show…
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Have you read of God and robots? Great book. I wrote a paper based on it last year.
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Do you mean “Gods and Robots” by Adrienne Mayor? No, I haven’t.
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That’s the one. It’s good
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Excellent quotes and photos!
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A fun post, Mitch. I love the images and quotes you chose.
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When I was a kid, the Jetsons cartoon put the idea in my head that I really needed a robot. My did not agree.
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*mother
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;>)
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And the sex robots will soon be here.
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Hmm…
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If they only had a heart?!?
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Exactly. ;>)
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Just finished a new edition of a novel I think you’d like on this subject — The Understudy by Keith Azariah-Kribbs, a self-published author. It addresses the complex relationship between man, android hybrids, and God. Very moving stuff.
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Interesting. I’ll check it out!
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Just ordered it on Kindle. The premise is intriguing, but I notice there are no reviews on Amazon. Do you know the author?
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Yeah, I’ve enjoyed his fairy tales for years.
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I know this puts me in the UberNerd category (not breaking news, by a long shot), but I noticed the caption for the Lost in Space photo called him “Robby the Robot.” The B-9 robot on Lost in Space is not Robby. Robby is the robot in “The Forbidden Planet.” The slide show has him pictured between R2D2 and Robocop. Also, besides Rosie mentioned in a comment above, other missing Roborepresentatives include the Terminators and The Stepford Wives. 🙂
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Yep (fellow nerd here), the caption came with the photo. Robby’s in a Forbidden Planet shot further (correctly labelled by me). And, yeah, there are so many other robots I could have included! Arnold got the axe (so did T2) simply because I couldn’t find a decent rez shot to use. And I left out the Stepford (subservient housewife) images I found on a hunch they might offend a few people who don’t know the context.
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Ah. I figured that caption was a “bringalong.” I see your point about the Stepfords. And, yes, of course, the list of robots is indeed long. Did you ever see the film “World’s End” (Simon Pegg, et al)?
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Yes! It’s my favorite of the Simon Pegg-Nick Frost movies!
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Quotes #1 and #2 resonated with me, partly because I recently finished reading *The Mind Club* by D.M. Wegner and K. Gray. It explores 2 aspects of “mind” (agency and experience) present in varying (sometimes controversial) degrees in animals (including people), machines, groups, and even deities.
The book has good-humored and thoughtful observations about some thorny issues, including the biggies about self-aware robots with moral rights and responsibilities. Under the (overoptimistic?) assumption that civilization lasts another century or so, such robots are a serious possibility and dreaded by some. My own dread is that the same old immorality of “white supremacy” will resurface as “human supremacy” preached by the kind of people who are racists today.
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What a grand collection of robot pictures I love them
The quotes are wonderful as well
Stay well and Laugh when you can
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Thanks, Mr. Ohh, you too!
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An astonishing collection of images, and some great quotes. But why are we obsessed with creating machines in our own image? It says more about our narcissism as a species than it does about machine realities (think of factory robots). It is quite possible that someday an Artificial intelligence will develop its own form of profoundly alien ‘self-determination’ (or ‘self-awareness’ – our human preoccupation) accidentally, without its creators being fully aware this has occurred, or what has happened. A bit like original sin perhaps.
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Hmm, makes one think.
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