Robots, Ctd.

To continue a continuing thread, robots! I'm fascinated by robots as imagined by artist Kathy Weaver, by robots as engineered by NASA like Curiosity and Voyager that are flung out into the heavens and these guys. Thanks to Andrew Sullivan, who is as fascinated as I am.

The term robot was introduced to the public by the Czech interwar writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920.[39] [h/t Wikipedia].

I add that the legend of the golem also comes from Prague and the Czech lands. The Sefer Yezirah ("Book of Creation"), often referred to as a guide to magical usage by some Western European Jews in the Middle Ages, contains instructions on how to make a golem. Several rabbis, in their commentaries on Sefer Yezirah have come up with different understandings of the directions on how to make a golem. Most versions include shaping the golem into a figure resembling a human being and using God's name to bring him to life, since God is the ultimate creator of life. Often in Ashkenazi Hasidic lore, the golem would come to life and serve his creators by doing tasks assigned to him. The most well-known story of the golem is connected to Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague (1513-1609).  [h/t Jewish Virtual Library]