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We Are the Robots
Machinic mirrors and evolving human self-conceptions
The distinct element appears to be the bit of exaggerated jitter or dangling exhibited when entering or exiting poses, which clearly reveals that observations of machinery starting and stopping abruptly, and underactuated parts swinging, provided the inspiration. But if you were swarmed by (say) a bunch of featureless levitating cubes that seem to self-assemble into weird alien geometries, hinting at advanced group theory beyond human mathematical capabilities, you’d possibly be terrified. Technology that allows us to live in more complex ways without falling apart profanes not our literal biological natures — anything our bodies can do without irreversible damage or death is arguably legal in an engineering sense — but these limiting self-perceptions.
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