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"To go out on January day and run around on the beach under a golden sun makes a very great change in your outlook on the universe."
- Robert Silverberg
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| Mechanical Bride | ||
| A perfect robotic replica of a woman. |
In the story, a wealthy man decides to purchase a beautiful robot to have around the house. His former girlfriend, now a sales assistant to a robot company, decides on a path to revenge. She begins by describing the company's products.
| "Mr. Shalk supplies the finest mannequins in the world. Streamlined, smooth-working, absolutely noiseless, breath-takingly realistic. Each one is powered by thirty-seven midget electric motors, all completely noiseless, and is controlled by instructions, recorded on magnetic tape, which are triggered off by the sound of your voice and no one else's. There is a built-in microphone that hears everything you say, and an electric brain that selects a suitable answer. The de luxe model is built to your specifications, has fifty different facial expressions, sings two hundred love songs, and can carry on a thousand fascinating conversations... But she has one serious defect. They all do.
"What's that?" "They have no heart." |
| Technovelgy from The Mechanical Bride,
by Fritz Leiber. Published by Vanguard in 1954 Additional resources -
|
Rita states her point of view early in the story, talking with old Chernik, the roboticist:
As it turns out, real women with hearts turn out to be more dangerous than heartless robots.
Compare to the manufactured wife from A Wife Manufactured to Order (1895) by Alice W. Fuller, the
robotess from R.U.R. (1920) by Karel Capek, the
psychophonic nurse from The Psychophonic Nurse (1928) by David H. Keller, the
teleoperated robot surrogate from The Robot and the Lady (1938) by Manly Wade Wellman, the
maid-robot from The Midas Plague (1954) by Frederik Pohl and the
Nanny from Nanny (1955) by Philip K. Dick.
"...Men don't want real women anymore. You and I are behind the times, Chernik. We stil believe in love. But most men just want beautiful, brainless robots. That's all my man really wanted. He didn't want me to have a will of my own. He didn't want me to be alive...
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Mechanical Bride
More Ideas
and Technology by Fritz Leiber
Tech news articles related to The Mechanical Bride
Tech news articles related to works by Fritz Leiber
Mechanical Bride-related
news articles:
- Sophia, The Personable Robot From Hanson Robotics.
- EveR-1 Korean Android And The Mechanical Bride
- Actroid DER2 Late Model Fembot
- Zoltan's Fembot Wife
- E.M.A. Robot Eternal Maiden Actualization Video
- Robot Fashion Models
- Actroid DER2 Gets TV Commercial Gig Video
- Palette Super Model Robot
- Aiko Fembot No Stepford Wife
- HRP-4C Robot Woman Is A Cybernetic Humanoid
- HRP-4C Robot In Wedding Dress A Mechanical Bride
- Do You Need The Entire Fembot? Maybe Just The Hand
- Sophia Robots By The Thousands
| DIY Robotic Content Farming |
| Vero Robotic Dog With Vacuum Cleaner Feet |
| Boy Makes Biomimetic Turtle Robot |
| Origin F1 Humanoid Robot's Facial Skin |
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'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
