RUR Gender Quotes

The advent of the robots has caused a breakdown in the gendered order of things. When you can make all the robots you want, you don't need women to have babies. Of course, Helena didn't exactly want to get married, and you can imagine a woman saying, "Hey, I don't need to have kids, I don't need to build or do anything—this is kind of awesome." The worry about the robots is in part a worry about female equality, it seems like. If everyone is the same, will the human race die out?

Here's another example of Domin being a jerk to Helena. In this case, it comes back to haunt him, since she has important information. In fact, his refusal to tell her what's going on ends up leading to his death, when she destroys the formula they need to bargain with the robots. Domin continually underestimates the people he thinks he has power over, whether Helena or the Robots. Being a man for him seems to mean (a) being powerful and (b) being stupid.

Alquist is telling the robots that only humans can create life; robots can't do it. This seems odd because—well, where are all the birds? The bees? The oak trees? Life here seems to mean only people, but of course there's lots of other life on earth. Has that all stopped reproducing, too? Humanity is defined by it's ability to reproduce sexually—and so it's as if all other living creatures on earth are just forgotten.