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"The planet's immune system is doing everything it can. The planet's immune system is doing everything it can."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Robot Rights  
  Should robots have the rights of men?  

This is perhaps the earliest direct reference to the idea that robots should have the same rights as people. In addition, since this is an autonomous robot, it must have some sort of artificial intelligence animating the machine.

The law officer gasped. "Well — uh — " He began again, lamely. "But this is different! This robot is a moving, li — no, not living — but anyway — uh — it's a creature, and — " He was too muddled by the sudden change of concept to go on.

Tom Link smiled. I suddenly perceived that he was a very clever young man. He had planned this trap! "Right, sheriff," he said quickly. "This robot is a creature. It is not an animal, for animals don't talk. It is a manlike being. Therefore, like any other talking, thinking man, he is entitled to a court trial!"


('The Trial of Adam Link, Robot (1939) by Eando Binder)

The sheriff tried to remonstrate, but Tom hustled him out, and the other men with him. "If you want to continue prosecution of Adam Link, the intelligent robot," was Tom's parting shot, "come back with a warrant of arrest!"

Technovelgy from The Trial of Adam Link, Robot, by Eando Binder.
Published by Amazing Stories in 1939
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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Trial of Adam Link, Robot
  More Ideas and Technology by Eando Binder
  Tech news articles related to The Trial of Adam Link, Robot
  Tech news articles related to works by Eando Binder

Robot Rights-related news articles:
  - Should AIs and AI Robots Demand Rights?

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Science Fiction in the News

DIY Robotic Content Farming
'The chief wheeled to the master machine and pressed a button.'

Reflect Orbital Sunlight On Demand
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'

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'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'

Fully Electric, Fully Automated Vegetable‑growing Agribots
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'

Vero Robotic Dog With Vacuum Cleaner Feet
'Out of warrens in the wall, tiny robot mice darted.'

AI Operates An Excavator
'So far as I could see, the thing was without a directing Martian at all.'

Boy Makes Biomimetic Turtle Robot
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'

US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'

Elon Musk Wants Data Centers In Space
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'

Origin F1 Humanoid Robot's Facial Skin
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'

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