ROBOTS

Waipa Post, Volume 37, Issue 2218, 6 October 1928, Page 3

ROBOTS

"Whither are we tending?" asks Mr William Moore in the Irish Statesman. "More and more attention is : being given to mechanical efficiency; less and less tlo that now obviously inferior and most troublesome creature, man. Daily we add to the beauty and symmetry of our machines. We strain every nerve to give them greater power, and by all manner of ingenious inventions contrive tlo endow them with minds. Do we do as much for man? "What a piece of work is a machine! How infinite in faculty! The paragon of an,imals! It is, merely a matter of time when man will be forced to admit himself inferior tb the machine. Observe how the machine is already vastly superior. No i passions disturb them; no spirit of greed or ambition stunts their efficiency; no strikes stlop their output; no impurity shakes or tries their selft-control. Sin is impossible for them. Their souls, are in a condition of perfect calm and contentment from the moment tlhey are born. They know no wants and are tortured by no remorse. "When machines need attention, slaves wait on them instantly and see thatl they want for nothing. When they are ill, highly-ckilled engineers strive to make them well again. And these machine-surgeons know every inch of their 1 patients' frames much better than a mere, guessing doctor knpws of the human frame. If a machine dies it assuredly lives again. Its parts are renewed and live gloriously improved beyond recognition. "What are we to do? Must we, like Butler, declare war to the death on machines and return to the pastoral simplicity of our forefathers ? "Have these new "Mechanical Men," these Robots, added a new terror to life?"