The dream of R.U.R is basically the dream of capitalism. If you build enough new, awesome, nifty stuff fast enough, everyone will be happy, no one will be poor, and there will be a great utopia with happy dancing robots. That would be great, but then there's the downside, not-so-awesome fear of capitalism. Because, if you make so much nifty awesome stuff so fast and then make machines to make more machines to make more stuff, what happens to people? Do you need them anymore? What do they do once they're buried in piles of stuff and the machines start to get cranky? Robots and capitalism will save humanity— or maybe they'll eat humanity. It's hard to be sure, which is why R.U.R. is so nervous.
Questions About Dreams, Hopes and Plans
- Are robot dreams, hopes and plans different from human ones, or are they the same? What parts of the play support your ideas?
- Do dreams, hopes, and plans in R.U.R. always involve dominating other people? Whose do and whose do not?
- How do robot plans, and human ones, depend on future generations in R.U.R.?
Chew on This
In R.U.R., the world is destroyed by those who are too focused on the future.
Actually, in R.U.R., the world is destroyed by those who are don't think enough of the future.