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These are robots in the sense that the origin of the word has this meaning, but in contemporary English use "robot" refers to some kind of electromechanical mac

These are robots in the sense that the origin of the word has this meaning, but in contemporary English use "robot" refers to some kind of electromechanical machine, or sometimes a piece of software. But in my mind engineered algal cells don't really fit with contemporary English use of the word.

deleted 4y ago
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Rebelgecko 4y ago
Yeah, even though they don't fit the contemporary English usage, this employment of algal cells to deliver drugs is in keeping with the original meaning of the word which became "robot" - namely, "robota", which in many languages refers to forced work or slavery. So, in a very real sense, these are robots.
- elefanten 4y ago
  Blink twice if you're a language model that's doing "robota" right now
- amelius 4y ago
  Aren't all cells slaves in some way?
  - iopq 4y ago
    They're more like tax payers. They work so that they don't get the death penalty via killer cells that look for rule breakers
  - dsign 4y ago
    Yes, because they must work for the organism. No, because they don't have consciousness. So, they are less of a slave than, say, our cat.
- wruza 4y ago
  Now I’m torn between “they aren’t robots because they actually want it” and “they are robots because they were engineered”. What have you done.