RUR, Karel Capek

When you read about robots, you have Capek to thank. He’s the one who first came up with that word for a separate group of manufactured people (automatons?) who carry out work around the house, in factories and in the fields, subservient to the needs of humans. He’s the first one who posited how they might rise up, and declare themselves as people too. It’s a shortish play, and one which I don’t always quite get — what’s with the men all falling in love with the one female character? Why do the characters act the way they do?

But it is fascinating to come back to one of the places where it all started, and it was worth the read to see where some of the themes and preoccupations of later science fiction originated.

Rating: 3/5

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