PROPHETIC The front cover of
Robot Unibersal ni Rossum (R.U.R.) by Karel Čapek, in Filipino. Illustrations by John Sherwin Acampado. Book design by Ryan Cuatrona
In an era defined by fast-moving digital transformations and technological innovations, little did everyone know that a hundred years ago, a Czech playwright named Karel Čapek had a prophetic vision of a sub-human life capable of performing the work of humans. He called it robot.
To commemorate the centennial of the world
robot, the Czech Embassy in Manila in cooperation with Ateneo de Naga University Press has issued the translation of
R.U.R., a drama by Karel Čapek in Filipino, where the world
Launch Poster of the R.U.R. book (Embassy of the Czech Republic)
R.U.R, a play involving a factory that builds artificial people who would become servants to humans, had its inaugural staging at the Czech National Theatre on January 25, 1921, and has since been translated and performed in more than 30 countries.
While Čapek was credited to be the first person to have used the term, it was his brother Josef, a cubist painter, who had come up with the term which came from the Slavic word ‘Robota’ that means “serfdom” or “forced labor” and perfectly encompasses the play.