So while I'll agree there are dangers, to play devil's advocate:
You ever see one of those crazy anime-inspired movies like Pacific Rim, with giant humanoid fighting robots? I was watching a video that discussed the practicality of this. On the surface they are completely ridiculous and ineffective. The video argued, however, that one reason an advanced society might create a machine like this is to reduce training costs. It takes knowledge and skill to do something like fly a plane or operate a tank. However every grunt soldier knows how to run, punch, and use a gun. If you can make giant robots with giant guns and a brain-computer interface, suddenly anyone can drive a superweapon.
The same kind of argument applies to AI and machines. We have massive amounts of knowledge and culture encoded in natural language, designed to be read and understood with human capabilities and logic. We have buildings, cars, appliances, machining tools, etc., all designed for human bodies. General AI that can think like a human (but faster) can quickly utilize all that knowledge, and humanoid robots (but stronger) can instantly utilize all that infrastructure. From that perspective it's an enormous value gain and not an unhealthy fetish.
I found a similar paradox, I'm not religious but I find the notion that humans have been created in God's image to have parallels in the way that we are currently pursuing AI.
The corollary to the is that we randomly evolved of billions of years and our thinking has become so complex that we believe that we can create something that is similarly complex is very fascinating. Fetish is definitely the right word.
The notion that the AI or robots would wake up and have selfish views similar to man's makes sense to us. I wonder how long it will be before the AI or robots is simulating its own creation in their own image...
I asked my father, a native Czech speaker to explain what Robata means. Pasting his reply below.
First, linguistically speaking: it's a Slavic language work, which broadly means "work". For example, the Russian word for "work" is "rabota". The Czech for work is "prace" but in slang usage one could say "robota" to signify hard work (e.g. "Musim do roboty"; "Ceka na me robota")
Historically: in the middle ages peasants had to spend a day each week working for the local lord on his field--this obligation was called "robota".
Karel Capek wrote a sci-fi play called R.U.R. where the word "robot" is used for the first time (it was suggested by Capek's brother Josef.)
R.U.R. stands for Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (Rossum's Universal Robots, a phrase that has been used as a subtitle in English). It premiered on 25 January 1921 and introduced the word "robot" to the English language and to science fiction as a whole. R.U.R. quickly became influential after its publication.
Original language: Czech
Date premiered: 25 January 1921
Written by: Karel Čapek
Genre: Science fiction
The root just means work or worker in Slavic languages. See also robotnik (worker) in Polish. But that wouldn’t make for a clickbait article title, now would it?
Robota means different thing in czech than rabota in other slavic languages. Czech robota means corvee. There are different words for corvee in other slavic languages - "barshhina" (in russian), "panshhina" (in ukranian, polish and belarusian, spelled a bit differently in each), and rabota in them means any work, in czech work is called prace.
Edit:
This is a good example of "false friends of a translator" - words in different languages that sound similar but have different meanings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend
That said rabota and robota still have a common root which means slave in most slavic languages. So how is it the czech is such an outlier is a curiosity.
The article specifically calls out Czech, not Slavic languages in general, as the root. According to Wiktionary, at least, robota does mean forced labor, so jumping to conclusions about clickbait titles might be a little premature.
googling for "origin of word robot" says that it's from "robota" which means (allegetly) forced labour in Czech which agrees with the article which says the same: "forced labor, as done by serfs".
That is also closer to the meaning than just "labour" or "work" in my own eastern europen language.
As the article states it's from the Czech word "robota". Clearly these are related but sometimes there are nuances between languages, even for very similar words.
I heard about this origin multiple times but never had it verified.
Maybe some native Czech speaker can enlighten us here :)
[+] [-] xixixao|5 years ago|reply
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/robota
I can also recommend reading the original play R.U.R., it’s quite short (and groundbreaking).
[+] [-] viseztrance|5 years ago|reply
Unlike other parts, serfs in Eastern Europe were pretty much slaves.
[+] [-] sneak|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] checkyoursudo|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smoyer|5 years ago|reply
If you prefer listening, it's also available in audio-book form - https://librivox.org/rur-rossums-universal-robots-by-karel-c....
EDIT: A nice synopsis is also available at Project Gutenberg - http://self.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/Rossum%27s_Universal_....
[+] [-] carapace|5 years ago|reply
When the machine wakes up and asks, "Hey, what's in it for me?"
From the POV of the robot, Asimov's Laws are the spec for the perfect slave. :(
I've come to the conclusion, reluctantly, that the desire to make robot servitors in our own image is an unhealthy fetish. YMMV
[+] [-] subjectsigma|5 years ago|reply
You ever see one of those crazy anime-inspired movies like Pacific Rim, with giant humanoid fighting robots? I was watching a video that discussed the practicality of this. On the surface they are completely ridiculous and ineffective. The video argued, however, that one reason an advanced society might create a machine like this is to reduce training costs. It takes knowledge and skill to do something like fly a plane or operate a tank. However every grunt soldier knows how to run, punch, and use a gun. If you can make giant robots with giant guns and a brain-computer interface, suddenly anyone can drive a superweapon.
The same kind of argument applies to AI and machines. We have massive amounts of knowledge and culture encoded in natural language, designed to be read and understood with human capabilities and logic. We have buildings, cars, appliances, machining tools, etc., all designed for human bodies. General AI that can think like a human (but faster) can quickly utilize all that knowledge, and humanoid robots (but stronger) can instantly utilize all that infrastructure. From that perspective it's an enormous value gain and not an unhealthy fetish.
[+] [-] EvRev|5 years ago|reply
The corollary to the is that we randomly evolved of billions of years and our thinking has become so complex that we believe that we can create something that is similarly complex is very fascinating. Fetish is definitely the right word.
The notion that the AI or robots would wake up and have selfish views similar to man's makes sense to us. I wonder how long it will be before the AI or robots is simulating its own creation in their own image...
[+] [-] confidantlake|5 years ago|reply
First, linguistically speaking: it's a Slavic language work, which broadly means "work". For example, the Russian word for "work" is "rabota". The Czech for work is "prace" but in slang usage one could say "robota" to signify hard work (e.g. "Musim do roboty"; "Ceka na me robota")
Historically: in the middle ages peasants had to spend a day each week working for the local lord on his field--this obligation was called "robota".
Karel Capek wrote a sci-fi play called R.U.R. where the word "robot" is used for the first time (it was suggested by Capek's brother Josef.)
R.U.R. stands for Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (Rossum's Universal Robots, a phrase that has been used as a subtitle in English). It premiered on 25 January 1921 and introduced the word "robot" to the English language and to science fiction as a whole. R.U.R. quickly became influential after its publication. Original language: Czech Date premiered: 25 January 1921 Written by: Karel Čapek Genre: Science fiction
[+] [-] type0|5 years ago|reply
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R. > "They are living creatures of artificial flesh and blood rather than machinery. "
[+] [-] animal531|5 years ago|reply
I've no idea how this started.
[+] [-] keiferski|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mcprwklzpq|5 years ago|reply
Edit: This is a good example of "false friends of a translator" - words in different languages that sound similar but have different meanings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend
That said rabota and robota still have a common root which means slave in most slavic languages. So how is it the czech is such an outlier is a curiosity.
[+] [-] whoisburbansky|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rtsdhsdfg|5 years ago|reply
That is also closer to the meaning than just "labour" or "work" in my own eastern europen language.
[+] [-] petermcneeley|5 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavs_(ethnonym)
[+] [-] halfnormalform|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jolmg|5 years ago|reply
TIL robotnik is more than a cool-sounding video-game character name.
[+] [-] mkoryak|5 years ago|reply
I could be wrong though, I only lived there for 11 years.
[+] [-] fileeditview|5 years ago|reply
I heard about this origin multiple times but never had it verified.
Maybe some native Czech speaker can enlighten us here :)
[+] [-] robotuprising|5 years ago|reply