Episode #949
News Items
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Fiction
According to the International Federation of Robotics, in 2023 there are 35 million industrial robots, and 43 million service robots worldwide.
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Item #2
Science
The first robot-assisted surgery was in Vancouver in 1984, the Arthrobot, which assisted in arthroscopic procedures. Surgical Robots Archives–World’s First Surgical Robot (surgrob.blogspot.com)
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Item #3
Science
Arguably the oldest robots include water-powered clock-driven figurines dating from 3,000 BC and a steam-powered pidgeon that could actually fly dating from 400 BC. https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/steam-powered-pigeon-002179
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today – but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.” – Isaac Asimov