Robots and Artificial Intelligence Have Ancient Mythology Origins

Modern humans weren't the first to dream up robots and artificial beings, and not the first to worry about the consequences of creating them.

By Avery Hurt
Sep 9, 2022 6:00 PM
Ancient robot
(Credit: Teo Tarras/Shutterstock)

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The word ‘robot’ wasn’t coined until 1920, when it was used by Czech playwright Karel Čapek in the play R.U.R., or Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (Rossum’s Universal Robots in English). Robots — or things like them — have been around in myth (and to some degree, fact) for thousands of years.   

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