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.
Summary:
"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"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.