[Ads-l] Quote Origin: Even the most ingenious technologist cannot make a collection of wheels, shafts, magnets and wires think

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Waldemar Kaempffert was an acclaimed science journalist and museum
director. He wrote for "Scientific American" and became the editor of
"Popular Science Monthly". On October 23, 1927, Kaempffert published
an article in "The New York Times" in which he speculated about the
capabilities and limitations of future robots:

[Begin excerpt]
There will never be a Robot--a brainless, tireless, unemotional
mechanism fashioned in the image of a man, performing all the
functions of a man, moving about stiffly but surely, pulling levers,
turning control wheels, wielding broom, pick or shovel.

Medieval contrivers frittered away their talents in constructing
lifelike automata that could write a name and play a tune or two, and
that outwardly resembled Robots. The modern engineer has no patience
with such fantastic creations. …

To drive home the limitations of an actual Robot, let us assume that
an engineer undertook to construct one and to endow it with as many
human talents as possible. The machine would, of necessity, be
brainless, because even the most ingenious technologist cannot make a
collection of wheels, shafts, magnets and wires think.
[End excerpt]

In April 1928 "The Red Book Magazine" published a piece by prominent
English literary figure G. K. Chesterton which contained the
following:
https://archive.org/details/sim_redbook_1928-04_50_6/page/50/mode/2up?q=robot

[Begin excerpt]
Men cannot be educated by machinery; and though there might be a Robot
bricklayer or scavenger there will never be a Robot schoolmaster or
governess.
[End excerpt]

These perspectives from 1927 and 1928 are presented in a Quote
Investigator article here:
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2026/10/07/never-robot/

Feedback welcome
Garson O'Toole

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org