From: "Greg Neyman" <Greg.Neyman@gte.net>
Subject: (whorl) disposable robots and the talus
Date: Tue, 4 May 1999 23:03:34 

hey Michael, about your last post:
>the very concept of a seedship strikes me as so flawed . . . even the
>notion of a robotic terraforming flotilla (which is a near cousin) is based
>upon the premise that robots are disposable slaves!  "Thanks for the
>planet, Tinman--now go rust someplace else, you are staining the
>lawn."

I think I take it for granted, but I'm glad that when I wake up at two in
the morning to do that paper that I've been putting off, my computer doesn't
return the error message "what the @#$% are you doing up at 2 in the
morning, and more importantly, why are you bothering me!!!"  the thing is,
my computer was created to be my unquestioning servant ... if robots are
created, whose sole purpose is to make a planet habitable for human
detachment, then they won't care that they're thrown out like rubbish as
soon a the terrans arrive ...

ALSO, the late Dr. Asimov has kindly provided me with information on the
origin of Talus ... from an essay he wrote of the history of robots ...
Greek mythological inventor extrodinaire  Daedalus gave the people of Crete
a fab gift, a giant brass man who could move, and whose sole purpose was to
protect the rich isle from invaders ... the name of the brass man was Talus
...

    /\/\     Greg Neyman               Greg.Neyman@gte.net
___/____\___      http://home1.gte.net/web100to/
  |HE  HA|



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