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nimism, Frankenstein and the Biblical injunction against creating life led to the dawn of robotic warfare
The affection of a certain island nation for all things robotic -- from hundred foot tall warfighting mecha to infantile therapy robots -- is well known. It contrasts sharply with the equally entrenched Western fear of automatons, beginning with the very invention of the term "robot," which was coined in a Czech play that debuted in 1921 in which, naturally, the robots eventually rise up and kill their human masters.
How could two cultures come to such fundamentally divergent conclusions about the status and future of the semi-autonomous helpmates whose increasing presence in our lives seems pre-ordained by nearly every sci-fi vision of the future?
To read the full, original article click on this link: Technology Review: Blogs: Mims's Bits: Why Japanese Love Robots (And Americans Fear Them)
