Tag with (1935) ?? Quite an interesting short read and I guess a prompt to actually read R.U.R
The article is an excerpt from a book published in 2024, even if its subject is history.
So a tag with an old date would not be appropriate.
The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
11–20 of 131 posts
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#12Was the title automatically editorialized? The article clearly says it's "The" man who coined the word "Robot"
Despite a policy of "use original titles", the HN software automatically mangles titles. This is one of the more bizarre auto-editing of titles it does because of how pointless it feels. "The man who" is established English convention. "A man who" is changing the meaning for the sake of it without producing a clearer title. The person is unambiguously defined, so the definitive article is entirely correct. If the per…
I say go the Slavic route and lose all the articles;
"Man who coined word 'Robot' defends himself"
Fits with the 'robot' theme
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#13Was the title automatically editorialized? The article clearly says it's "The" man who coined the word "Robot"
Despite a policy of "use original titles", the HN software automatically mangles titles. This is one of the more bizarre auto-editing of titles it does because of how pointless it feels. "The man who" is established English convention. "A man who" is changing the meaning for the sake of it without producing a clearer title. The person is unambiguously defined, so the definitive article is entirely correct. If the per…
Looks like it doesn't change all titles that start with "the", see e.g. these two from the current front page:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39066795 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39082552
So it only changes "the man" to "a man"? (And I'm guessing also "the woman" to "a woman"?)
I'm struggling to understand the reasoning here. Can someone give me an example of a title starting with "the man" which sounds excessively clickbaity, but "a man" fixes it? I can't think of one.
Now I'm wondering what other auto-editing rules HN applies. Is there a list somewhere?
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
Despite a policy of "use original titles", the HN software automatically mangles titles. This is one of the more bizarre auto-editing of titles it does because of how pointless it feels. "The man who" is established English convention. "A man who" is changing the meaning for the sake of it without producing a clearer title. The person is unambiguously defined, so the definitive article is entirely correct. If the per…
I say go the Slavic route and lose all the articles; "Man who coined word 'Robot' defends himself" Fits with the 'robot' theme
Man coins "robot", defends self
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#15Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#16I think it has been generally accepted that Josef Capek (Karel's brother) was actually the one who coined the word "robot". Karel Capek wanted to call them "labors" originally.
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Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#17When asking Google - what the etymology of the "robot" word is, the answer is from Czech word "robota" which is they translate as "forced labor".
While I don't speak Czech, I speak Polish which is a close cousin. For years it didn't occur to me that "robot" and the shortened "bot" words have slavic etymology. In Polish "robić" means to do (carry out, perform etc.) something. "Robię kawę" means "I'm making a coffee" and "Zrób coś" (imperative mood - do something!) is a call for action to take action. It's a popular multi-use verb.
"Robota" is a job or some work that one has to do, not necessarily forced as Google suggests.
Edit: Also adding another interesting fact. Golem is an inanimate entity from Yiddish folklore, with a story strongly related to a 16th Prague Rabbi. I looked it up on Wikipedia if there was any connection with the "Robot" and indeed there seem to be some - "The play was written in Prague, and while Čapek denied that he modeled the robot after the golem, many similarities are seen in the plot." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem)
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#18When asking Google - what the etymology of the "robot" word is, the answer is from Czech word "robota" which is they translate as "forced labor". While I don't speak Czech, I speak Polish which is a close cousin. For years it didn't occur to me that "robot" and the shortened "bot" words have slavic etymology. In Polish "robić" means to do (carry out, perform etc.) something. "Robię kawę" means "I'm making a coffee" a…
I've always read that it came from "robotnik" which just means "person who is doing something". And I agree, I'm also Polish and "robota" does not imply forced labour in the slightest, maybe it does in Czech but I doubt it given the close similarity between languages. It's quite common for people to say "Idę do roboty" which just means "I'm going to work"(as in - my place of employment).
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#19His robot was hijacked to mean a mechanical man with gears and wires inside and he objected to that. I'm thinking of course that the public only had experience with these things — or perhaps this was another fear of the time, the mechanization of jobs, and so the robot became the perfect avatar for this fear and so evolved.
But surely the idea of a mechanical man predates the term, robot. Automatons? Or is the distinction that people understood automatons as stationary, a parkour toy, while the robot was a next level thing capable of traveling. Or was the distinction that a robot might have a mechanical brain and so could carry out wanton destruction on it's own?
And was all this tied in with some creeping horror modern society saw in the machinery of The Great War?
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#20When asking Google - what the etymology of the "robot" word is, the answer is from Czech word "robota" which is they translate as "forced labor". While I don't speak Czech, I speak Polish which is a close cousin. For years it didn't occur to me that "robot" and the shortened "bot" words have slavic etymology. In Polish "robić" means to do (carry out, perform etc.) something. "Robię kawę" means "I'm making a coffee" a…
I've always read that it came from "robotnik" which just means "person who is doing something". And I agree, I'm also Polish and "robota" does not imply forced labour in the slightest, maybe it does in Czech but I doubt it given the close similarity between languages. It's quite common for people to say "Idę do roboty" which just means "I'm going to work"(as in - my place of employment).
I'd translate "robotnik" as a "worker". A "person who is doing something" sounds a bit too general. Nevertheless, it's easy to guess that the root of the word is the same verb.