DO ROBOTS AND COMPANIES GET ALONG IN SCIENCE FICTION?

Abstract

In this paper we analyze the fears and hopes automation has generated in popular culture from
the time the term “robot” was first used to the present period of media hype. We consider the
extent to which hopes and fears have changed and whether changes reflect actual changes in
robotics. We analyze how this topic was treated in science fiction of the 1920s
and 1950s
and
contrast it with today’s presentation. We discuss selected novels and films that have captured
popular imagination on a worldwide scale.