Human Robots in Myth and science (Routledge Revivals)

First published in 1966, in Human Robots in Myth and Science, the author traces the idea of the robot from antiquity until the present day (1960s) and sketches the lines of its likely development in the future.Modern science, like science fiction, is deeply concerned with the idea of a robot or self-regulating artifact which operates without human aid.Ultra rapid computers, pilotless planes, and automated factories straight away come to mind, but there are numberless other automatic devices. As John Cohen probes this exciting theme it becomes increasingly clear that the notion of a robot has had far reaching repercussions in the history of science, philosophy and literature and in the growth of industry.In his analysis of the motives of robot makers throughout the ages, the author distinguishes the impulse which challenges the gods themselves from the merely utilitarian urge.There is a vast difference between the age-old quest for technical skill and the desire to wrest from the gods t