R.U.R.

“You see, he wanted to somehow scientifically dethrone God.”

Domin talks to Helena about Old Rossum. Rather than create robots as workers, Rossum wanted a new kind of human made by science rather than procreation. His debate with his son, the young Rossum, was over the kind of robot produced, and sprung from their different motives.

“Young Rossum successfully invented a worker with the smallest number of needs, but to do so, he had to simplify him.”

Domin discusses the Rossums’ robotic creations. Young Rossum, the son of the original Rossum, is interested in mass production and industry. He created his robots to fill certain roles or, in other words, to occupy a specific class, changing the power relations created by labor.

“You’d never guess she was made of a different substance than we are. She even has the characteristic soft hair of a blonde, if you please.”

Here, Domin describes his robot secretary, Sulla, to Helena, explaining that her mistaking Sulla for a human is understandable. She also mistakes humans for robots when meeting the directors, suggesting how robots and humans are alike. The inability to distinguish between the two—human and robot—is a central concern of many works of science fiction created after R.U.R.