"Karel Čapek's ""R.U.R."" and the Vision of Artificial Life offers a new, highly faithful translation by Stěpan Simek of Czech novelist, playwright, and critic Karel Čapek's play R.U.R.- Rossum's Universal Robots, as well as twenty essays from contemporary writers on the 1920 play. R.U.R. is perhaps best known for first coining the term ""robot"" (in Czech, robota means serfdom or arduous drudgery). The twenty essays in this new English edition, beautifully edited by Jitka Čejkova, are selected from Robot 100, an edited collection in Czech with perspectives from 100 contemporary voices that was published in 2020 to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the play.
Čapek's robots were autonomous beings, but biological, not mechanical, made of chemically synthesized soft matter resembling living tissue, like the synthetic humans in Blade Runner, Westworld, or Ex Machina. The contributors to the collection-scientists and other scholars-explore the legacy of the play and its connections to the current state of research in artificial life, or ALife. Throughout the book, it is impossible to ignore Čapek's prescience, as his century-old science fiction play raises contemporary questions with respect to robotics, synthetic biology, technology, artificial life, and artificial intelligence, anticipating many of the formidable challenges we face today.
Contributors Jitka Čejkova, Miguel Aguilera, Inigo R. Arandia, Josh Bongard, Julyan Cartwright, Seth Bullock, Dominique Chen, Gusz Eiben, Tom Froese, Carlos Gershenson, Inman Harvey, Jana Horakova, Takashi Ikegami, Sina Khajehabdollahi, George Musser, Geoff Nitschke, Julie Novakova, Antoine Pasquali, Hemma Philamore, Lana Sinapayen, Hiroki Sayama, Nathaniel Virgo, Olaf Witkowski
A new translation of Karel Čapek's play R.U.R.-which famously coined the term ""robot""-and a collection of essays reflecting on the play's legacy from scientists and scholars who work in artificial life and robotics.
Karel Čapek's ""R.U.R."" and the Vision of Artificial Life offers a new, highly faithful translation by Stěpan Simek of Czech novelist, playwright, and critic Karel Čapek's play R.U.R.- Rossum's Universal Robots, as well as twenty essays from contemporary writers on the 1920 play. R.U.R. is perhaps best known for first coining the term ""robot"" (in Czech, robota means serfdom or arduous drudgery). The twenty essays in this new English edition, beautifully edited by Jitka Čejkova, are selected from Robot 100, an edited collection in Czech with perspectives from 100 contemporary voices that was published in 2020 to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the play.
Čapek's robots were autonomous beings, but biological, not mechanical, made of chemically synthesized soft matter resembling living tissue, like the synthetic humans in Blade Runner, Westworld, or Ex Machina. The contributors to the collection-scientists and other scholars-explore the legacy of the play and its connections to the current state of research in artificial life, or ALife. Throughout the book, it is impossible to ignore Čapek's prescience, as his century-old science fiction play raises contemporary questions with respect to robotics, synthetic biology, technology, artificial life, and artificial intelligence, anticipating many of the formidable challenges we face today.
Contributors Jitka Čejkova, Miguel Aguilera, Inigo R. Arandia, Josh Bongard, Julyan Cartwright, Seth Bullock, Dominique Chen, Gusz Eiben, Tom Froese, Carlos Gershenson, Inman Harvey, Jana Horakova, Takashi Ikegami, Sina Khajehabdollahi, George Musser, Geoff Nitschke, Julie Novakova, Antoine Pasquali, Hemma Philamore, Lana Sinapayen, Hiroki Sayama, Nathaniel Virgo, Olaf Witkowski"
By:
Karel Capek,
Jitka Cejkova
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262544504
ISBN 10: 0262544504
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 06 February 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
INTRODUCTION ix Jitka Čejková R.U.R. (ROSSUM’S UNIVERSAL ROBOTS) 1 Karel Čapek, translated by Štěpán S. Šimek TRANSLATOR’S NOTE 99 ESSAYS 1 ROBOTS AND THE PRECOCIOUS BIRTH OF SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY 105 Julyan Cartwright 2 ANOTHER METHOD WITH THE POTENTIAL TO DEVELOP LIFE 117 Nathaniel Virgo 3 HUMANS AND MACHINES: DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES 121 Carlos Gershenson 4 R.U.R. AND THE ROBOT REVOLUTION: INTELLIGENCE AND LABOR, SOCIETY AND AUTONOMY 133 Inman Harvey 5 IT WASN’T WRONG TO DREAM: THE PARADISE OR HELL OF OUR JOBLESS FUTURE 147 Julie Nováková 6 R.U.R.: A SHREWD PLUTOCRAT, A GENIUS ENGINEER, AND AN ANTI-SUE WALK INTO A BAR 153 Lana Sinapayen 7 ARTIFICIAL PANPSYCHISM 161 George Musser 8 WHAT IS “THE SECRET OF LIFE”? THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM IN ČAPEK’S R.U.R. 169 Tom Froese 9 THE ROBOT 177 Jana Horáková 10 IS THE “SOUL” SYNONYMOUS WITH CONSCIOUSNESS? 193 Sina Khajehabdollahi 11 SCIENCE WITHOUT CONSCIENCE IS THE SOUL’S PERDITION 199 Antoine Pasquali 12 KAREL ČAPEK: THE VISIONARY OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ARTIFICIAL LIFE 207 Hiroki Sayama 13 ROSSUM’S UNIVERSAL XENOBOTS 213 Josh Bongard 14 WHY ARE NO MORE CHILDREN BEING BORN? 217 Hemma Philamore 15 LOVE IN THE TIME OF ROOMBA 221 Seth Bullock 16 THE LESSON OF AFFECTION FROM THE WEAK ROBOTS 227 Dominique Chen 17 GENERATIVE ETHICS IN ARTIFICIAL LIFE 233 Takashi Ikegami 18 FROM R.U.R. TO ROBOT EVOLUTION 241 Geoff Nitschke and Gusz Eiben 19 ROBOTS AT THE EDGE OF CHAOS AND THE PHASE TRANSITIONS OF LIFE 251 Miguel Aguilera and Iñigo R. Arandia 20 ROBOTIC LIFE BEYOND EARTH 259 Olaf Witkowski AFTERWORD: “THE AUTHOR OF THE ROBOTS DEFENDS HIMSELF” 265 Karel Čapek CONTRIBUTORS 269 ILLUSTRATION CREDITS 275 NOTES 277 INDEX 289
Karel Čapek (1890-1938) was a Czech novelist, short story writer, playwright, and essayist best known for his dystopian works. He was the author of War with the Newts, The Makropulos Affair, The Absolute at Large, The White Disease, and many other notable works. Jitka Čejkova is Associate Professor in the Chemical Robotics Laboratory at the University of Chemistry and Technology Prague. Her research focuses on how chemical engineers can contribute to artificial life research.
Reviews for R.U.R. and the Vision of Artificial Life
"""A must-read for anyone interested in ALife."" —The Irish Times"
