# We're Doomed -- Robots can reproduce **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 30, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217 "2021-11-30T14:23:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/1 "2021-11-30T14:23:49Z")
This – THIS! – is the reason Victor Frankenstein refused to build a Bride for Frankenstein. Biological “robots” are now capable of reproduction [https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/americas/xenobots-self-replicating-robots-scn/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/americas/xenobots-self-replicating-robots-scn/index.html) > [@](#): > > The US scientists who created the [first living robots](https://cnn.com/2020/01/13/us/living-robot-stem-cells-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html) say the life forms, known as xenobots, can now reproduce – and in a way not seen in plants and animals. > > Formed from the stem cells of the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) from which it takes its name, xenobots are less than a millimeter (0.04 inches) wide. The tiny blobs were first unveiled in 2020 after experiments showed that they could move, work together in groups and self-heal. > > Now the scientists that developed them at the University of Vermont, Tufts University and Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering said they have discovered an entirely new form of biological reproduction different from any animal or plant known to science. > > “I was astounded by it,” said Michael Levin, a professor of biology and director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University who was co-lead author of the new research. > > “Frogs have a way of reproducing that they normally use but when you … liberate (the cells) from the rest of the embryo and you give them a chance to figure out how to be in a new environment, not only do they figure out a new way to move, but they also figure out apparently a new way to reproduce.” Of course they try to reassure us… > [@](#): > > While the prospect of self-replicating biotechnology could spark concern, the researchers said that the living machines were entirely contained in a lab and easily extinguished, as they are biodegradable and regulated by ethics experts. …but we’ve seen this movie before. The dinosaurs spontaneously change sex. One Alien tears the other apart and uses its acid blood to eat through the walls. Calvin the Martian slips into the conduits and escapes the lab. I, for one, welcome our Pac Man-shaped Overlords. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/2 "2021-11-30T14:28:37Z")
Wait. What was the date Skynet first becomes self-aware? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/3 "2021-11-30T14:34:09Z")
Do you want Cylons? Because this is how you get Cylons!! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/4 "2021-11-30T14:41:33Z")
How many steps away from Grey Goop are we now? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/5 "2021-11-30T14:42:40Z")
Calling a modified lifeform a “robot” is really stretching the meaning of the word, enough that I’d say the media is trolling. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/6 "2021-11-30T14:43:12Z")
Time for a remake of [The Stuff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stuff). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/7 "2021-11-30T16:22:36Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Calling a modified lifeform a “robot” is really stretching the meaning of the word, enough that I’d say the media is trolling. No doubt you’d prefer something like John Sladek’s _Mechasm/The Reproductive System_ > **[MECHASM by John T. Sladek on Robert Gavora Fine and Rare Books](https://www.robertgavora.com/pages/books/41555/john-t-sladek/mechasm)** > > New York: Ace Books, 1968. First US edition, first printing. Paperback. Fine. Item #41555 An Ace Science Fiction Special number 71435, with 75¢ cover price. Original first edition title is The Reproductive System. A satirical parable of man/machine... > **[Tentatively, Convenience's review of Mechasm](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1558890844)** > > 4/5: review of John Sladek's Mechasm by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - February 22, 2016 This is just the measley truncated review for the full review: "DNA'S MOL HATH JOKES": https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/419915-dna-s-mol-hath-jokes This... > **[Reproductive System – John T. Sladek – Adventure House](https://adventurehouse.com/shop/product/reproductive-system-john-t-sladek/)** From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > His first [science fiction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction) novel, published in [London](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London) by [Gollancz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Gollancz_Ltd) as _[The Reproductive System](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Reproductive_System&action=edit&redlink=1)_ and in the United States as _[Mechasm](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mechasm&action=edit&redlink=1)_ , dealt with a project to build [machines that build copies of themselves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clanking_replicator), a process that gets out of hand and threatens to destroy humanity. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/8 "2021-11-30T16:27:14Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Calling a modified lifeform a “robot” is really stretching the meaning of the word, enough that I’d say the media is trolling. I note that these items are referenced in the Wikipedia page “Self Replicating Machines”, so it’s not _all_ media hype. > **[Self-replicating machine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine)** > > A self-replicating machine is a type of autonomous robot that is capable of reproducing itself autonomously using raw materials found in the environment, thus exhibiting self-replication in a way analogous to that found in nature. The concept of self-replicating machines has been advanced and examined by Homer Jacobson, Edward F. Moore, Freeman Dyson, John von Neumann, Konrad Zuse and in more recent times by K. Eric Drexler in his book on nanotechnology, Engines of Creation (coining the ter A s... ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/9 "2021-11-30T16:29:27Z")
You want doomed? I know someone that is trying to breed cats with high intelligence _and opposable thumbs_. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/10 "2021-11-30T16:31:29Z")
How is this not just another form of cloning? Is the whole thing that you can supposedly program future xenobots to follow instructions? How is that different from training a domestic animal to do chores? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/11 "2021-11-30T16:37:00Z")
Fiction writers should use whatever words they like, but journalists should avoid words with connotations that will deceive their audience. This news is interesting enough without a deceptive use of “robot”. (I know it’s far too late to stop clickbaiting, but it’s still wrong. And this isn’t at all directed at you; I’m glad you posted the link.) ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/12 "2021-11-30T16:47:44Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > but journalists should avoid words with connotations that will deceive their audience. You funny. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/13 "2021-11-30T20:56:31Z")
There is a meme floating around the internet about condoms being manufactured by automated machines. So: robots are actively preventing humans from reproducing. Now, CalMeacham finds this item. It’s a conspiracy! ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/14 "2021-11-30T21:59:16Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I know someone that is trying to breed cats with high intelligence _and opposable thumbs_ . Fine by me. Let them open their own damn cans of Fancy Feast. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/15 "2021-11-30T22:24:38Z")
It’s not a robot in any sense. It’s a cell culture. Cell cultures reproduce. It’s what they do; that’s old news. I’m sure that the scientists working on these things have reason to be excited, but whatever reason that is, they utterly failed to convey it to the journalists who wrote the story. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/16 "2021-12-01T15:03:20Z")
What’s different about this, apparently, is that the cells are reproducing in an extremely weird and different way. They’re not simply dividing or conjugating or doing any of the usual things that constitute reproduction. What they’re doing is even stranger than the creature that reproduces by expelling its digestive tract. I gather that this behavior was determined by whatever was done to culture these cells, essentially “programming” it, which is why the publicity refers to them as “robots”. To say that these are just a cell culture reproducing , and that’s what cells do, is to pretty much miss the point, which is conveyed pretty well in the news releases. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-doomed-robots-can-reproduce/955217/17 "2021-12-02T15:11:41Z")
This could bring a whole new meaning to the term “invasive exotics”. For now, I’m more concerned about what’s reproducing in my shower stall.