The American robot : a cultural history / Dustin A. Abnet.
By: Abnet, Dustin A [author.].
Publisher: Chicago : University of Chicago Press, ©2020Description: 376 p.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780226692715.Subject(s): Robots -- Social aspects | Robotics -- Social aspectsGenre/Form: Print books.| Current location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On Shelf | TJ211 .A34 2020 (Browse shelf) | Available | AU00000000016580 |
Browsing Alfaisal University Shelves , Shelving location: On Shelf Close shelf browser
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| TJ170 .C58 2015 Mechanics of machines / | TJ170 .T63 2016 Introduction to dynamics and control in mechanical engineering systems / | TJ181.5 .B85 2016 The wheel : inventions & reinventions / | TJ211 .A34 2020 The American robot : a cultural history / | TJ211 .C474 2015 Making simple robots : explore cutting-edge robotics with everyday stuff / | TJ211 .D85513 2017 Living with robots / | TJ211 .H8 2018 How to walk on water and climb up walls : animal movement and the robots of the future / |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Introduction: An Intimate and Distant Machine -- God and Demon, 1790-1910 -- The Republican Automaton -- Humanizing the Industrial Machine -- Mechanizing Men -- Masters and Slaves? 1910-1945 -- Symbolizing the Machine Age -- Building the Slaves of Tomorrow -- Conditioning the Robot's Brain -- A War against the Machine Age -- Playfellow and Protector, 1945-2019 -- Preserving American Innocence -- The Postindustrial Gift -- Cheerful Robots -- Epilogue: The American Robot.
"As Dustin Abnet shows, the robot-whether automaton, Mechanical Turk, cyborg, or iPhone, whether humanized machine or mechanized human being-has long been a fraught embodiment of human fears. Abnet investigates, moreover, how the discourse of the robot has reinforced social and economic inequalities as well as fantasies of social control. "Robots" as a trope are not necessarily mechanical but are rather embodiments of quasi humanity, exhibiting a mix of human and nonhuman characteristics. Such figures are troubling to dominant discourses, which cannot easily assimilate them or identify salient boundaries. The robot lurks beneath the fears that fracture society"--