Appropriate Technology in Rural Development

Abstract

In R.U.R. (Rossums Universal Robots), Karel Capek dramatizes the annihilation of homo sapiens by a technological creation of man himself. Robots systematically and successfully eliminate man from the face of the earth. Hardly a century has gone by since Capek wrote his book and the world stands on the brink of disaster. Two plights of mankind, two extremes, can be identified both critical for the existence of man. The first of these two extremes is the production of destructive weapons of warfare. Man has almost perfected these instruments and the robots produced today are capable of eliminating life from the face of the earth, in undeniable consonance with Capek’s prediction.