Gonna go out on a limb here and guess this is a robot.
Geeks, dweebs, nerds, and poindexters of the world, assemble, for I have a doozy of a question for you.
What is the difference between an Android and a Robot?
As we’ve previously discussed, I’m working on a science fiction novel, and seeking the advice of nerds everywhere for help. Don’t be offended by being called a nerd. It’s a badge of honor, really. Frankly, who wants advice about robotics from a non-nerd?
This is total nerd stuff, baby.
I find that in the science fiction world, the words “android” and “robot” are often used interchangeably. But should that be the case?
The best advice I’ve found thus far:
“A robot can, but does not necessarily have to be in the form of a human, but an android is always in the form of a human.”
– Edmond Woychowsky, TechRepublic – “The Difference Between Robots and Androids, 2010
Click here for Woychowsky’s Full Article
Well, wait a minute. That sounds simple enough at first, but what about C3P0? He and his buddy RD2D are invariably referred to as “droids” in the Star Wars universe. Haven’t you heard the infamous line from Obi-Wan Kenobi, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for?”
C3P0 has a torso, arms, legs, a face with eyes, he is definitely modeled after a human, but he’s also built out of a golden colored metal, his arms and legs only move so much, his eyes are pretty much just sockets, and there’s just a slit where his mouth should be.
That’s not exactly a human, is it? What did Edmond have to say?
“It can be argued that an android should be able to pass as a human in natural light. So, if you subscribe to this belief, C-3PO from Star Wars and R. Giskard Reventlov from Isaac Asimov’s The Robots of Dawn are robots, not androids.”
Seriously? So George Lucas got something wrong? In addition to Jar Jar???
So, if you take this android vs. robot information seriously, then C3P0 is a robot. The robots from the film I, Robot, starring Will Smith, are robots (that’s a given, since they didn’t call it, I, Android).
Rosie, the Jetson family’s maid, is a robot. C3P0, Rosie, and the I, Robot bots, all might have human-inspired designs, but if you were to see them, you would say, “Hey, that’s a robot!”
Apparently, the question of whether an “artificial being” is a robot or an android boils down to whether or not you can tell when you first meet said being. As Woychowsky notes, Data from Star Trek: Next Generation, does appear to be a human, “albeit with an odd complexion.”
As an additional example, I would submit that Ash from the original Alien movie is an android. He was so passable as a human that this is actually a major plot point of the film – he was passing as a crew member but in secret, was an android with a special mission. For part of the film, the audience doesn’t even know he’s not a human.
So what say you, readers? I need your nerdy opinions, because the novel I am working on, and sadly, procrastinating on, might feature robots, or it might feature androids, but I want to make sure I’m using the right terminology so that my nerd credentials are not questioned.
I’ve been talking a lot about movies lately. You might as well start calling this blog “Movieshelf Battle.” But what can I say? I do love books. But I also have movies. And whether it is in a book or on the screen, a story is a story.
Here’s the list of this year’s 2015 Oscar Nominees:
American Sniper – Saw it. Check out my review here.
Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Haven’t seen it. As a former Batman, Michael Keaton plays a role he knows something about – that of an actor known for playing a superhero, and what happens to him in the film I’m not sure. But I do love superheroes and was a fan of Keaton’s 1989 Batman, so I’ll have to check it out.
Boyhood – I’ve rented it but have yet to watch it. People who have tell me that the story itself is pretty blah, but the idea of filming a child actor at different stages of his life (as opposed to having different kids play the character at different ages, which is what Hollywood usually does) is very unique and creative.
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Eh. I’ve never been a huge Wes Anderson fan. I love comedies. Sometimes I think he might try too hard. Other times I watch something like Hangover 3 and think that maybe Hollywood NEEDS to try harder when it comes to comedy. It is nice to see a comedy in the best picture list though. That rarely happens. The late 1990’s As Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson was the last Oscar recognized comedy that I can remember.
The Imitation Game – I have seen it! I owe you a review! In fact, I’m a little disappointed in myself for reviewing The Boy Next Door before The Imitation Game.
Selma – Haven’t seen it. Been meaning to. Looks good. Lots of history. Good for the historical record for this important time in U.S. history to be recorded on film.
The Theory of Everything – I’m glad Stephen Hawking got his own biopic. He does more with a wheelchair and a keyboard than most able bodied people do all day. Yet to see it.
Whiplash – Never seen it. Has to something to do with a drummer who wants to learn to drum and receives help from a guy who is like some kind of drumming drill sergeant. I’ll try to see it.
Anyway, those are the nominees. My main complaint? I wish they’d space these out over the year, rather than come out all at the same time. But I suppose that’s the strategy – open them in a few theaters in December so they count as 2014 movie, then release them everywhere in January so people are talking about these movies come Oscar time.
I’m going to try my best to see and review them all before the Oscars. Doubt I’ll make it, but let’s see what happens. If you have reviews or comments about these movies, feel free to comment away.
“A towel, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
If you haven’t read it yet, you really should.
No witty commentary today, other than to say I like this poem:
FIRE AND ICE
BY: Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
At some point, you must have heard these infamous words:
“This above all, to your own self be true!”
They originate with the bard himself – William Shakespeare. And “truer” words were never spoken. If you aren’t being true to yourself – i.e. if you are trying to be someone you aren’t, then you are just not going to be happy.
It is a scene that plays out all the time – a parent gives advice to a child who is heading off for college. Here is what Polonius had to say before his son, Laertes, set sail to pursue his studies:
Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame! The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay’d for. There; my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memorySee thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledged comrade. Beware of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!
What say you, readers? Did Polonius give good advice? Bad advice? Discuss in the comments!
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
― Mark Twain
Not sure I have anything profound to say about this one, other than I generally find that in life, one often meets many people who feel they have to knock others down just to make themselves look good in comparison. Why do people feel the need to do that? I don’t know.
This quote can definitely apply to writing. Show of hands – how many of you have been laughed out of the room after mentioning you’re working on a novel?
It’s ok. The people who haven’t been bitten by the writing bug will never understand. Just hang out and commiserate with other writing bug bite sufferers.
Bookshelf Battle 