Publication details
Fakes, Forgeries, and Robots
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | VLAK : Contemporary Poetics & the Arts |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Web | https://vlakmagazine2.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/vlak-5/ |
| Field | Art, architecture, cultural heritage |
| Keywords | fakes; forgeries; robot |
| Description | Karel Čapek's drama character, the artificial worker called Robot from the play R.U.R., Rossum's Universal Robots (1920/21), is a powerful and widespread concept of an embodied artificial intelligence. It can be even said that Čapek articulated a primary goal of artificial intelligence research in his famous play about Robots. However, his concept of Robot shouldn't be reduced to mere technological invention, similar to those known from Jules Verne’s novels. Rather we should ask ourselves why he wanted to invent the neologism (and the drama character) Robot? It is argued that this is because he needed the new word to be able newly articulate the concept of an (artificial) man for the twentieth century. To show the effect of the Čapek’s neologism the Robot character will be introduced from perspective of theatre semiology, and semiology of fakes and forgeries (I. Osolsobě, U. Eco). The argument leads towards claim that Robot, as a sign within theatre sign system, establishes a new category in the taxonomy of artificial man that serves as a means of questioning of dichotomy human vs. machine that is abandon for the concepts of becoming human and becoming machine in R.U.R. plot already. |
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