quote · Legacy record
Humans were still not only the cheapest robots around, but also, for many tasks, the only robots that could do the job. They were self-reproducing robots too. They showed up and worked generation after generation; give them 3000 calories a day and a few amenities, a little time off, and a strong jolt of fear, and you could work them at almost anything. Give them some ameliorative drugs and you had a working class, reified and coglike.
Humans were still not only the cheapest robots around, but also, for many tasks, the only robots that could do the job. They were self-reproducing robots too. They showed up and worked generation after generation; give them 3000 calories a day and a few amenities, a little time off, and a strong jolt of fear, and you could work them at almost anything. Give them some ameliorative drugs and you had a working class, reified and coglike.
Approximate author period: c. 1976 AD · modern
Meaning not yet available
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- Author or tradition
- Kim Stanley Robinson
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
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- Approximate author period: c. 1976 AD · modern
Approximate author-period evidence for Kim Stanley Robinson: documented activity in 1976. Wikidata Q130779, inspected 2026-10-08. Not a quotation composition date or independent verification of attribution. Source: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q130779 (accessed 2026-10-08).
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Supplied reference C; CSV row 106925; supplied attribution, independently unverified
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