"I Sing the Body Electric"
Technology isn't quite science, but the application of scientific insight -- and perhaps no technology is more alluring than the creation of a creature like ourselves, only better. The robot nanny of "I Sing the Body Electric," arriving after a mother's death, is just such a being.
"For we, her grandchildren, slapped her to life. Timothy, Agatha, and I, Tom, raised up our hands and brought them down in a huge crack!" wrote Bradbury of the robot's activation. "We shook together the bits and pieces, parts and samples, textures and tastes, humors and distillations that would move her compass needle north to cool us, south to warm and comfort us, east and west to travel round the endless world, glide her eyes to know us, mouth to sing us asleep by night, hands to touch us awake at dawn."
Almost 50 years after the story's publication, robot babysitters are indeed under development, but they're nothing like Bradbury's creation. Some scientists worry that using robots to watch children will impair their social development.
Image: PaPeRo, a prototype robot designed by NEC to live with humans. (Ms. President/Flickr)