The Self-Destruction of Humank essays

The Self-Destruction of Humank essays The Self-Destruction of Humankind in R. U. R. In Karel Capeks play R. U. R. (Rossums Universal Robots) the idealistic young Helena Glory arrives at the remote island factory of Rossum's Universal Robots, on a mission from a humanitarian organization devoted to liberating the Robots, which are being sold to the world as cheap labour force. Although Helenas decision to ask Dr. Gall, the head of the Physiological and Experimental Department of R. U. R., to make the robots more human was a foolish, naive miscalculation which leads to the extermination of the human race, she isnt the only one to blame for the destructive consequences of Rossums Universal Robots. Helena Glory arrives at the factory of Rossums Universal Robots as a representative of a group which wants to give more human rights to the robots. This is a contradiction in itself because one cant give something non-human the rights of a human. So in order to achieve her request the robots have to become more like human. But this request is very naive because Helena only considers the non-destructive human characteristics like love, to have a soul and to have a free will. The human features she doesnt think which robots shouldnt have are the will not to have a master just like Radius, a highly developed robot, says to Helena (p. 164). This characteristic is responsible for the formation of a Robot organization. Another charcteristic that the robots gain through Helenas decision is the struggle to increase their own power. Thats why the robtos want to rule over others just like Radius tells Helena (p. 164). The most devastating attribute that the robots acquire is to slaughter an d to dominate. Radius tells Alquist, that it was necessary to slaughter and dominate in order to become human beings (p. 192). This attribute was the one which lead to the extinction of the human race. At first Helena believed that it...