# Did I steal this story idea from somewhere else?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 28, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225 "2012-04-28T12:20:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/1 "2012-04-28T12:20:23Z")
About 25 years ago, when I was 15, I had a very vague idea for a story, about robots who travel across the country together. For some reason, today I thought of that idea again and started to flesh it out a bit into a more solid plot, to maybe write it as a screenplay.
So these robots are used like slaves, machines as they are, but they slowly gain enough intelligence that they start to wonder about their lives and what it’s all about. Two of them meet up and start on a quest across the country to find their maker. On the way they meet up with other robots, who each have different jobs, and together they not only have an adventure but they learn from each other to become more rounded characters, until they finally reach their destination and learn the truth about their origins.
And as I was thinking about it, it all fell into place so easily I thought that maybe I unintentionally stole the idea from somewhere else. Or then again, it may be that all I’m doing is recalling the same story I first came up with all those years ago.
I figure if anyone would know of any existing story, written or screened, similar to this, you guys would. Any ideas?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/2 "2012-04-28T13:15:54Z")
It’s not familiar, but you can’t steal ideas. People might notice similarities, but there’s nothing wrong with that. As long as you are creating new characters, situations, and dialog, you’re creating a different work and aren’t violating copyright. If it’s similar in other ways, just make sure you’re writing a damn good story and no one will care.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/3 "2012-04-28T18:14:01Z")
There’s some slight similarities to a Frederick Pohl story, “Farmer on the Dole” and a Howard Waldrop story, “Heirs of the Perisphere”. But your plot sounds distinct from these two.
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### Author:  [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/4 "2012-04-28T18:26:22Z")
Sounds like a good story, and now I want to read it, so…
Get crackin’! 🙂
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/5 "2012-04-28T18:39:20Z")
Wizard of Oz
V-Ger in ST:TMP
The City and the Stars
Foundation and Earth
O Brother Where Art Thou
etc… (imho, ymmv)
hey, story ideas can fit a similar or familiar theme without being a ripoff. I think yours is a nice idea. Could be entertaining.
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### Author:  [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/6 "2012-04-28T18:40:37Z")
it’s Blade Runner
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### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/7 "2012-04-28T18:42:23Z")
It’s got some similarities to Asimov’s _Bicentennial Man_.
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### Author:  [@Ura-Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ura-Maru)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/8 "2012-04-28T19:09:46Z")
[Heartbeeps?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082507/)
I’m not sure what you mean by ‘the truth about their origins.’ Did they not realize they were robots, but knew they were slaves? Or did they not understand the context of what they were doing? (Assembling cars because that’s what the world they knew consisted of, not realizing that cars were a product and they were in a factory?)
In any case, I agree with RealityChuck. There have been, at last count 12 billion SF stories involving robots, and no matter what you do some jerk can say, “Well, it’s just like X except you changed Y! Which changes the whole context and makes it nothing like X, but anyway!”
–
Yes, I saw Heartbeeps. I was young and foolish and\*\*\* DON’T YOU JUDGE ME YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ME!!\*\*\*
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### Author:  [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/9 "2012-04-28T19:20:21Z")
I’m seeing _Huckleberry Finn_, myself…
But go ahead and give it a try!
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/10 "2012-04-28T19:46:00Z")
Canterbury Tales?
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### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/11 "2012-04-28T21:23:41Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> Two of them meet up and start on a quest across the country to find their maker. On the way they meet up with other robots, who each have different jobs, and together they not only have an adventure but they learn from each other to become more rounded characters, until they finally reach their destination and learn the truth about their origins.
That sounds a lot like _AI_. This is part of the plot summary from [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.I._Artificial_Intelligence)
> [@wikipedia](#):
>
> Joe and David make their way to Rouge City. Information from a holographic answer engine called “Dr. Know” (Robin Williams) eventually leads them to the top of Rockefeller Center in partially underwater Manhattan. They fly to New York via a flying submersible vehicle called an amphibicopter they stole from the police, who are still chasing Joe. David meets his human creator, Professor Hobby (William Hurt), who excitedly tells David that finding him was a test, which has demonstrated the reality of his love and desire. It also becomes clear that many copies of David are already being manufactured, along with female versions. David sadly realizes he is not unique.
I will echo what others have said, however, in that I don’t think you stole the idea. It’s just that “a cross country journey to find the truth” is a common theme in a bunch of different stories, and so are robots.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/12 "2012-04-28T23:17:27Z")
> [@Ura-Maru](#):
>
> I’m not sure what you mean by ‘the truth about their origins.’
I’m not sure either, just yet. I think they just want to know why machines that are learning enough to be independent, which is far beyond their original programming, are still treated like machines. And I’m also not sure what a satisfying answer to that would be. But I’ll figure something out.
Thanks for all your replies. I am quite relieved I didn’t lift it wholesale from somewhere. I’m very happy about this idea, so I will start working on it right away 🙂
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### Author:  [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/13 "2012-04-29T03:43:37Z")
[A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212720/) also features a sort of robot road trip to find the robot’s maker.
ETA: Or, what **A Monkey With a Gun** said.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/14 "2012-04-29T05:48:49Z")
Perhaps (although I haven’t read them yet) this idea is similar to _Roderick_ and _Roderick at Random_ by John Sladek, but these books are about the adventures of a single robot.
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### Author:  [@Galwegian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galwegian)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2012, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-i-steal-this-story-idea-from-somewhere-else/620225/15 "2012-04-29T11:44:27Z")
When I read the OP, I thought straight away of a classic short story about a group of farming robots aimlessly wandering through some kind of post-apocalyptic world, congratulating each other that they are finally free of their masters. However, when they do come across a starving remaining human, the moment he commands them to find him some food, they immediately scurry off to obey.
Couldn’t find the title with Google, sorry, but I’m pretty sure it was from the 50’s or 60’s, and should be well known as I’ve read it in more than one anthology.