Introduction
Robots have been commonly used to automation of tasks. With the enhancements of business process automation, robots provide a means of doing tasks, which have hitherto been done manually. The current trend of robot enhancement is to attempt to make robots behave like humans. The author of Rossum Universal Robots play brings out this aspect as the developer of robots, Rossum, tried to behave like God. He is regarded as mad in the play (Wyllie, 2006). This clearly depicts the degree in which robots have been developed. The effort to create human beings from robots will in the end subvert the human nature of human beings. Although the pace of robot enhancement brings out the effort to emulate like God, this is still something far from being achieved. This is evident from the play in the way robots become extinct in the end. The secret of creation of robots is defeated in the end of the play. Human beings will never be like God. They will end up becoming extinct(Cornell, 2011).
The excerpt from the RUR play argues that human beings will behave like human beings. Domin seems to be arguing this account to Helena when he was describing the cause of human beings. According to Domin, Rossum tried to be like God by developing a human being(Wyllie, 2006). Domin reveals to Helena that this was the guarded secret. Domin tells Helena that Rossum was mad because he tried to be like God. This statement is because of the fact that Rossum tried to make a living tissue so that he could make living organisms. Although this is the case, Rossum dies in the laboratory in the end. This becomes another proof that the level of God that humans so much desire is hard to be achieved. Domin had the valuable understanding of the working process of tissues but he ended up dying. Regarding the next evidence that human beings are mortal, this is not enough reason for this. It cannot be said to be true because there are developments that are being carried out to improve on human robots. The current robots do fail but can be revived even after they are gone. The physical robot that Domin said it died after three days could still be revived. The end of robots is not like the death of a human being. Their death cannot be argued to be the death that we face as human beings. This shows that following human beings who will be created from robots will not fail. The works of Rossum did not die as it is claimed in the argument. The reason for this is that there were enhancements that his nephew carried on after this (Wyllie, 2006).
The works of Rossum was continued by his nephew who continued the works of Rossum. Human beings can be said to be mortal but their actions are not mortal. The end argument that the skill of creating robots is destroyed does not auger well in this perspective. From the play, the nephew of Rossum came to continue from where his uncle left. It disapproves the contention that humans are immortal. It is the human body which perishes but the works of that person continues to be. As the older generations pass, there will always be a new generation which will end up to take on from where the previous left. The argument from the excerpt can be disapproved in this sense. The secret of creating robots will always be kept by modern generations(Wyllie, 2006).
With the work of the young Rossum, he looked further into trading aspect of developing robots. It is clear that he was not concerned about the complicated nature of robots but actually about how these robots could be reproduced in large scale. From this, the direction of robot development is no longer towards likening them to human beings, but rather to be used for commercial purposes. In this sense, the argument does not contain any water. From the play, the young Rossum is concerned in making robots that can be used to manage physical activities and how they can be reproduced in large scale – we are shown a scene where Domin had an order of 15000 robots. With this, the development to complicate the robots is no longer the issue then. The young Rossum removed the feelings part of the robots. He argued that people did things that required feelings and tastes. He removed these aspects from the robots(Wyllie, 2006). The position of making robots to be as complicated as God made human beings is no longer a major issue for scientists. The effort to be like God is no longer correct. God made human beings which had feelings and tastes. The robots that are produced by the young Rossum in the show do not have these feelings. Instead, the robots which are produced are geared towards business applications where they are used to make cheap labor in large scale. This is evident in the description of the first episode where we are shown the adverts which are used to entice people to get robots for cheap labor. It is obvious that the direction of robot is towards the business and not towards the human likeness(Wyllie, 2006).
Rossum continues to explain that robots are not as complicated as humans are. From this, the aspiration of young Rossum was not to incorporate more features to the robots but to be automatic gadgets that could do menial tasks at a cheaper price. This is the reason why he designed robots which are less complicated and could do various tasks that are done by human beings(Wyllie, 2006).
Another reason why it is impossible to replace God is that the super-robots that were created by Rossum could break up for no apparent reason. God cannot be emulated as the effort to make super-robots was unsuccessful. The reasons that we are trying to be like God is difficult to achieve. God is extremely exclusive for us and we will remain under him. God is all original and all-knowing. He knows why he made the area of man and how he combined emotions to human. The argument from the passage that human beings are behaving like God and the nature of human beings is being diminished is not true. From the play, towards the end, the super-robots that Rossum created did not wait for long and did not wait for long. In this, the secret that God had in the development of human beings could not be known by Rossum and that is the reason he was not able to create human beings like God did. From this, it is clear that human beings will keep being human beings and that God will still keep being God(Wyllie, 2006).
The second part of the first argument is that human beings are behaving like God but they are still fleshly. Human beings are depicted to be mortal. This case may not be true. The fact that human beings go does not involve death in their entirety. This is because the actions of human beings are still visible and continue to grow for long. Even though humans may disappear after sometime, their actions will be found to increase. This diminishes the quality of mortality. In the RUR play, the young Rossum succeeded his uncle in his actions and this helps to make it clear the fact that they could be seen to remain in their actions. This will continue to get from one generation to another(Wyllie, 2006).
Conclusion
The arguments from the passage do not fully reflect most of what we get from the play. There are many arguments that claim otherwise in the time the actions unfold in the play. Rossum demonstrates counter arguments of the play. There are many aspects that explain that the play has more evidence that the enhancements of robots is not in any time a array of destruction of human aspect. God will keep being God and human beings will keep being human beings. It is obvious that the efforts that Rossum had given in the development of robots did not meet the standards of God in his creation of the human being. Also, the actions of human beings will keep being remembered and will keep from generation to generation. The humans may be human themselves but their actions are not(Wyllie, 2006).
References
Cornell, C. (2011). Remembering the Ancients: Observations on Technoscience in Capek’s R.U.R. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 31(2), 103–112. doi:10.1177/0270467610391289
Wyllie, D. (2006). Rossum Universal Robots (pp. 1–76). eBooks Adelaide.
