Week 3: Robotics + Art

The Printing Press

This week’s topic explores the connection between industrialization and art, more specifically, the emergence of robots as a reaction to industrial processes. A key component of industrialization was the mechanization of labor and the emergence of the assembly line production system. Although the Industrial Revolution arose in the eighteenth century, Johaness Gutenberg’s introduction of the printing press in Europe in the fifteenth century utilized an assembly line production system, which allowed for the mass production of books, and, thus, contributed to the growing Renaissance. During the twentieth century, the assembly line was popularized by Henry Ford in the production of his motor vehicles, most especially his Model T. The introduction of the assembly line in industrial production allowed for efficient production of goods, as production time decreased while output increased. 

The Ford Assembly Line

The mechanization of labor and the emergence of the assembly line produced a variety of responses among members of society. In his “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” Walter Benjamin writes about what he perceives to be the impact of mechanical reproduction on art. He stresses how mechanical reproduction destroys the idea of uniqueness and authenticity in art, and adds that it releases art from its dependence on ritual. Additionally, the utilization and popularization of the assembly line drew attention to the fact that workers themselves were being treated like machines, which ultimately led to the emergence of the idea of the Robot. The word “robot,” which arose from the Czech word “robota,” meaning “work,” was introduced by a Czech playwright Karel Čapek in his play “Rossum’s Universal Robots,” and emerged as a reaction to mechanization and the assembly line production system. 

Walter Benjamin 

Sources: 

Benjamin, Walter. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/benjamin.pdf.

Editors, History.com. “Printing Press.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 May 2018, www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press.

“Ford's Assembly Line Starts Rolling.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 13 Nov. 2009, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fords-assembly-line-starts-rolling.

Palermo, Elizabeth. “Who Invented the Printing Press?” LiveScience, Purch, 25 Feb. 2014, www.livescience.com/43639-who-invented-the-printing-press.html.

“Science Diction: The Origin Of The Word 'Robot'.” NPR, NPR, 22 Apr. 2011, www.npr.org/2011/04/22/135634400/science-diction-the-origin-of-the-word-robot.