{"id":119,"date":"2020-11-13T22:10:41","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T22:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/?page_id=119"},"modified":"2020-11-16T17:32:16","modified_gmt":"2020-11-16T17:32:16","slug":"another-hundred-years-for-the-future-of-mankind-robot-ethics-and-karel-capeks-r-u-r-at-100","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/another-hundred-years-for-the-future-of-mankind-robot-ethics-and-karel-capeks-r-u-r-at-100\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Another Hundred Years for the Future of Mankind&#8221;: Robot Ethics and Karel \u010capek\u2019s R.U.R. at 100 &#8211; post-show discussion 11\/14\/20"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\u201cOh, only to have a hundred years of time. Another hundred years for the future of mankind.\u201d So says Harry Domin, General Manager of Rossum\u2019s Universal Robots, one of the key players in <em>R.U.R., <\/em>Karel \u010capek\u2019s apocalyptic satire, which was composed in 1920 and introduced the word \u201crobot\u201d to the world. Composed on the heels of World War I, <em>R.U.R.<\/em>, like much of \u010capek\u2019s work, \u201cwarns against state violence and the possible consequences of modern technological civilization, whose abuse could be the cause of the world\u2019s destruction.\u201d<a href=\"#_edn1\">[1]<\/a><em> <\/em>A blend of science fiction, morality play, and farce that explores tensions at the intersections of humanity, technology, and nature, the play resonates with 21<sup>st<\/sup> century concerns about capital, labor, education, environmental disruption, equity, and ethics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflecting on the messages of his first international hit, \u010capek wrote in 1923, \u201cThe most dramatic element in modern civilization is the fact that one human truth stands against a truth no less human, one ideal against another ideal, one positive value against a value no less positive, and that conflict does not represent, as we are often told, a struggle between a novel truth and a vile, selfish evil.\u201d<a href=\"#_edn2\">[2]<\/a> Indeed, in the \u201ccollective drama\u201d <em>R.U.R.<\/em>, there is no simple definition of right and wrong, no singular assignation of culpability; rather, \u010capek offers audiences a complex look at systems of power and their evolution via a microcosm of philosophical and ideological points of view espoused by the characters, both human and robot\u2014from the Kantian categorical imperative to Jamesian pragmatism to the Nietzschean <em>\u00dcbermensch<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/yxqjzhsc\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/yxqjzhsc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here to watch a recording of our discussion of this ground-breaking work in its centennial year that was held on Saturday, November 14, at 10 p.m.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"536\" src=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/files\/2020\/11\/My-Post-2-1024x536.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/files\/2020\/11\/My-Post-2-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/files\/2020\/11\/My-Post-2-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/files\/2020\/11\/My-Post-2-768x402.jpg 768w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/files\/2020\/11\/My-Post-2-676x354.jpg 676w, https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/files\/2020\/11\/My-Post-2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref1\">[1]<\/a> Majer, Peter and Cathy Porter. \u201cIntroduction.\u201d <em>\u010capek: Four Plays. <\/em>Methuen, 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref2\">[2]<\/a> \u010capek, Karel.<em> The Saturday Review <\/em>23 July 1923, qtd. in \u201cIntroduction\u201d by Ivan Kl\u00edma, translated by Peter Kussi, in <em>R.U.R.<\/em>,by Karel \u010capek, translated by Claudia Novack. Penguin, 2004.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cOh, only to have a hundred years of time. Another hundred years for the future of mankind.\u201d So says Harry Domin, General Manager of Rossum\u2019s Universal Robots, one of the key players in R.U.R., Karel \u010capek\u2019s apocalyptic satire, which was composed in 1920 and introduced the word \u201crobot\u201d to the world. Composed on the heels [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-119","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135,"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/119\/revisions\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unewhavendh.org\/theaterarts_remoterepertory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}