R.U.R.

this play was a riveting and disturbing read. robots are being manufactured to replace workers so that humans can live in a utopia free of labor. the robots are fashioned after humans. they look like them, speak like them, barely distingushable from them except they have no feelings, no desires. they never smile. they don't think for themselves. they are stronger and smarter but do as they are told. a few years down the road the experiment goes awry and the robots hate the humans for their inferiority. they revolt and kill all of the humans except one. they they start to die out and have no way to manufacture themselves. they turn to their lone human for aid but can he help them?

this play was written after WWI. R.U.R. stands for Rossum's Universal Robots and it was this play that cemented the use of the word robot in our language.