Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Russian, работа simply means "work" or "job" without any negative connotation.
Russian isn't Czech and there are a lot of false cognates between the two.
I like vonet and pachnout
The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
101–110 of 131 posts
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Russian, работа simply means "work" or "job" without any negative connotation.
Russian isn't Czech and there are a lot of false cognates between the two.
Interestingly, the Chernobyl liquidators forced to clean the roof were referred to as robots. I think the TV series expanded that to "bio robots", but books about the incident from tbe nineties simply used robot.
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#103It’s interesting that Philip K. Dick’s androids from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and the Replicants from the Blade Runner are way closer to Čapek’s robots than to mechanical humanlike contraptions. All three raise the same question — what is humanity, when you really get down to it?
Dildog posted a meme on this topic recently on Mastodon: A group of monks sit around the Buddha. Monk: Buddha, what makes us human? Buddha: Selecting all images with traffic lights. https://hackers.town/@dildog/111644483541067122
Sorry for an intellectually vacuous comment, but: Wow! Somehow this hit way harder than I was ready for!
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#104Earlier 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…
This is one of the more bizarre auto-editing of titles it does because of how pointless it feels. Someone should take a page from "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" and create an AutoGPT "replicant" version of HN, including LLM versions of the moderators, PG, and the top commenters and submitters.
Of course, in light of Betteridge's law, that version would be called Androids Don't Dream of Electric Sheep.
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#105Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Speaking of Slavic etymology and robota, "slave" is derived from "Slav".
slave (n.) c. 1300, sclave, esclave, "person who is the chattel or property of another," from Old French esclave (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin Sclavus "slave" (source also of Italian schiavo, French esclave, Spanish esclavo), originally "Slav" (see Slav); so used in this secondary sense because of the many Slavs sold into slavery by conquering peoples. https://www.etymonline.com/word/slave
The first part makes sense, the second one doesn't: where would that 'c' come from? No such thing as Sclavic people, never was.
Nevertheless, I'm not sure if there is any reflection on the fact that mediterranean pirates (and nomadic tribes further east) plundered Balkans for captives and southwestern europeans then bought them. And that, perhaps, was a suboptimal way to behave.
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Bulgaria, we use "работа" (rabota) but eventually adopted "robotya" as a slang for working hard as a robot. Man, I really should travel more around Europe. COVID ruined my last planned vacation and I've stayed at home since then.
As your neighbor from the North (Romania) I highly recommend visiting the general Central and Eastern European area. In the last few years we’ve been to Prague, short stay in Vienna, Bratislava, Ohrid (spent a night in Pernik on the way there, which I count as part of the experience) and I’d also put Athens and Southern Greece/the Peloponnese on the list (even though it’s not Eastern nor Central European). All very i…
all good recommendations. I needed some encouragement. Thank you.
It's blowing my mind you willingly went to Pernik, though.
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
slave (n.) c. 1300, sclave, esclave, "person who is the chattel or property of another," from Old French esclave (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin Sclavus "slave" (source also of Italian schiavo, French esclave, Spanish esclavo), originally "Slav" (see Slav); so used in this secondary sense because of the many Slavs sold into slavery by conquering peoples. https://www.etymonline.com/word/slave
The first part makes sense, the second one doesn't: where would that 'c' come from? No such thing as Sclavic people, never was. Nevertheless, I'm not sure if there is any reflection on the fact that mediterranean pirates (and nomadic tribes further east) plundered Balkans for captives and southwestern europeans then bought them. And that, perhaps, was a suboptimal way to behave.
> No such thing as Sclavic people, never was.
Sounds like there was to the Greeks:
Slav (n.) "one of the people who inhabit most of Eastern Europe," late 14c., Sclave, from Medieval Latin Sclavus (c. 800), from Byzantine Greek Sklabos (c. 580), from a shortening of Proto-Slavic sloveninu "a Slav"* -- https://www.etymonline.com/word/Slav
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#109When 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…
Speaking of Slavic etymology and robota, "slave" is derived from "Slav".
It's not derived, it's used - first by defeated.
Re: The man who coined the word "robot" defends himself
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
Speaking of Slavic etymology and robota, "slave" is derived from "Slav".
It's not derived, it's used - first by defeated.
> It's not.
How is it not?
One of your other comments sounds like you agree with the etymology jefftk cited? But that says the exact same thing. The word slav was first, and the word slave was made from it.
Something being "propaganda" and "revenge" does not stop it from being the origin of a word.
Edit:
Oh, you elaborated slightly. > It's not derived, it's used - first by defeated.
That's what derived means. They took a word and used it to make a new word.