{"product_id":"rur-and-the-vision-of-artificial-life-9780262544504","title":"R.U.R. and the Vision of Artificial Life","description":"\u003cb\u003eA new translation of Karel Čapek's play \u003ci\u003eR.U.R\u003c\/i\u003e.--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.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eKarel Čapek's \"R.U.R.\" and the Vision of Artificial Life\u003c\/i\u003e offers a new, highly faithful translation by Stěpán Simek of Czech novelist, playwright, and critic Karel Čapek's play \u003ci\u003eR.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as twenty essays from contemporary writers on the 1920 play. \u003ci\u003eR.U.R.\u003c\/i\u003e is perhaps best known for first coining the term \"robot\" (in Czech, \u003ci\u003erobota\u003c\/i\u003e means serfdom or arduous drudgery). The twenty essays in this new English edition, beautifully edited by Jitka Čejková, are selected from \u003ci\u003eRobot 100\u003c\/i\u003e, an edited collection in Czech with perspectives from 100 contemporary voices that was published in 2020 to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the play. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eČapek's robots were autonomous beings, but biological, not mechanical, made of chemically synthesized soft matter resembling living tissue, like the synthetic humans in \u003ci\u003eBlade Runner, Westworld\u003c\/i\u003e, or \u003ci\u003eEx Machina\u003c\/i\u003e. 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eContributors\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJitka Čejková, Miguel Aguilera, Iñigo R. Arandia, Josh Bongard, Julyan Cartwright, Seth Bullock, Dominique Chen, Gusz Eiben, Tom Froese, Carlos Gershenson, Inman Harvey, Jana Horáková, Takashi Ikegami, Sina Khajehabdollahi, George Musser, Geoff Nitschke, Julie Nováková, Antoine Pasquali, Hemma Philamore, Lana Sinapayen, Hiroki Sayama, Nathaniel Virgo, Olaf Witkowski\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/16\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262544504\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.10d","brand":"Karel Capek","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43471026553013,"sku":"9780262544504","price":25.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_bb3de9ce-4c7a-4264-9be9-af7f814d5ac1.jpg?v=1704821716","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/rur-and-the-vision-of-artificial-life-9780262544504","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}