Karel Capek

Rossum Universal Robots Karel Capek

In May 2010, US scientists succeeded in creating the first self-replicating synthetic life. The advance has been hailed as a scientific landmark, but critics say there are dangers posed by synthetic organisms. In 1920, Karel Capek predicted this exact scenario in his prescient Rossum Universal Robots (R. U. R.) Predating Huxely?s Brave New World by two decades, R. U. R. claims the same footing in history as the earliest masterpiece that depicts the decline of Homo Sapiens and their replacement by the Post Humans. Karel Capek was the most famous author in the Czech Republic in the first half of the 20th century. His work widely translated and still inspires story tellers and movie directors the world over. R. U. R inspired Spielberg? A. I., Will Smith' I Robot and Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator series, among others. "Capek's play is immortal for that one word it contributed, 'Robot', not only to English but, through English, to all the languages." Isaac Asimov