Charles Shaw, in his upcoming Appendix article “The Most Soviet Park In Russia,” describes a 1959 guidebook to a Moscow park that captures the technological utopianism of the USSR under Kruschev.
“A strange figure guarding the Electrification park,” Shaw writes, “epitomized the new era.” The guidebook described the scene:
From a distance he seems to be a visitor from the Middle Ages, a knight clad in armor. But his armor is aluminum and underneath it he lacks a beating heart, while his veins do not flow with hot blood. His heart is mechanical and his blood is electronic. He is a robot.
The robot greeted visitors by confessing: “Right now I can’t do much, just turn around, walk, talk…I’m controlled by radio.” However, it also bragged of its abilities: “We robots don’t fear work, nor heat, nor cold.” And, as Shaw writes, “visitors who did not speak Russian could pick up a nearby telephone receiver and listen to his message in French, English, or German.”see more
Source: theappendix,net
Tags: soviet union friendly robot, technology
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