Life with robots — Is it pathetic to want them to insult us?

It's just a Scrabble-playing robot that says things like "I can't believe your feeble mind was able to play that word," but still... it's some kind of sign of our craving for more human interaction. But I think robots that insult us are a very old idea in sci-fi books and movies. I was prompted to blog this because it's in the Wall Street Journal, but as I'm writing this post, I'm thinking that the only thing that's interesting here is that the Wall Street Journal thinks it's interesting.

I Googled "robots that insult," and the first thing that came up was a long list of insults Dr. Smith aimed at the robot on "Lost in Space." "Bellicose Bumpkin" (used 4 times on the series),  "Bubble-headed Booby" (9 times), "Cowardly Clump" (7 times), "Quivering Quintessence of Fear" (only once). That was back in the 60s, and Dr. Smith was insulting the robot, not programming the robot to insult him so he could feel less bereft of human contact.

My search also led me to a piece from last fall titled "Barack Obama: Being like this robot isn't an insult."

Maureen Dowd of The New York Times likened the Barack Obama-Joe Biden relationship to the "Robromance" on "Almost Human," a Fox cop show arriving Nov. 17.

Dowd compared Obama to the show's "attractive black robot who is highly evolved, logic-based and designed to be as human as possible." Then she wrote dismissively of "Obama's android air."...

The columnist tells us about the "Almost Human" robot character who is "as altruistic and considerate and empathetic as you'd want," and concludes:

Being called a robot isn't an insult if you're being compared to Dorian. It's a compliment.

Again, I have not found an article about a robot who insults. This is the assertion that it's not an insult to be called a robot... at least not when you're Obama. Because if Obama is like a robot, it must be a wonderful robot.