Automaton
noun
A machine that can operate by itself without a person controlling it.
The factory replaced the workers with automatons to save costs.
Often appears as...
- mechanical automaton
- intelligent automaton
noun
Someone who behaves or responds in a mechanical or apathetic way.
After long hours of study, he became an automaton, merely copying the information without processing it.
Often appears as...
- human automaton
- emotionless automaton
noun
In mathematics, it's a self-operating machine or control mechanism used to follow automatically a predetermined sequence of operations or responses.
A cellular automaton consists of a regular grid of cells, each in one of a finite number of states.
Often appears as...
- cellular automaton
- finite automaton
Usage tips
Academic
noun
A machine that can operate by itself without a person controlling it.
The factory replaced the workers with automatons to save costs.
Often appears as...
- mechanical automaton
- intelligent automaton
noun
Someone who behaves or responds in a mechanical or apathetic way.
After long hours of study, he became an automaton, merely copying the information without processing it.
Often appears as...
- human automaton
- emotionless automaton
noun
In mathematics, it's a self-operating machine or control mechanism used to follow automatically a predetermined sequence of operations or responses.
A cellular automaton consists of a regular grid of cells, each in one of a finite number of states.
Often appears as...
- cellular automaton
- finite automaton
Usage tips
Academic
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Not Always Robots
Automatons are not only modern robots; historical mechanical devices also qualify.
The 18th-century Silver Swan is an automaton that moves like a real swan.
Pro Tip 2/3Self-Operating
An automaton operates on its own, following a set of programmed instructions.
Museum exhibits often feature automatons to show lifelike motions.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Emotional
Automatons lack human qualities and cannot make judgments or feel emotions.
The chess-playing automaton won, but it didn't feel pride in its victory.
Compare with
androidcyborgdolldroidmachinemechanismpuppetrobot
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Video examples
Expanding our definition...
acting out to the wrong intention you know they're doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and and what I'm trying to show and I said I didn't make this up I stand in a very long tradition people have been arguing for holism who've been arguing for human systems of Education not automatons based systems education and which ones ones which are
Video examples
Computing a theory of...
So the question Can anything else happen? Well, we can do a little experiment. Let's just do a little mathematical experiment, try and find out. Let's just run all possible programs of the particular type that we're looking at. They're called cellular automata. You can see a lot of diversity in the behavior here.
Video examples
The Greek myth of Talos,...
In the fires of his forge, Hephaestus cast his invention in the shape of a giant man. Made of gleaming bronze; endowed with superhuman strength, and powered by ichor, the life fluid of the gods, this automaton was unlike anything Hephaestus had forged before.
Video examples
Vet Safari Family:...
a part of automata we've got the whole group which is nice it's always nice to keep a family group as a whole up make it nice be fitted into season yeah oh I need you to get going
Video examples
Expanding our definition...
acting out to the wrong intention you know they're doing the wrong thing for the right reasons and and what I'm trying to show and I said I didn't make this up I stand in a very long tradition people have been arguing for holism who've been arguing for human systems of Education not automatons based systems education and which ones ones which are
Video examples
Computing a theory of...
So the question Can anything else happen? Well, we can do a little experiment. Let's just do a little mathematical experiment, try and find out. Let's just run all possible programs of the particular type that we're looking at. They're called cellular automata. You can see a lot of diversity in the behavior here.
Video examples
The Greek myth of Talos,...
In the fires of his forge, Hephaestus cast his invention in the shape of a giant man. Made of gleaming bronze; endowed with superhuman strength, and powered by ichor, the life fluid of the gods, this automaton was unlike anything Hephaestus had forged before.
Video examples
Vet Safari Family:...
a part of automata we've got the whole group which is nice it's always nice to keep a family group as a whole up make it nice be fitted into season yeah oh I need you to get going
Example 1 of 4
Quote examples
Randall Munroe
American Cartoonist
What people don't appreciate, when they picture Terminator-style automatons striding triumphantly across a mountain of human skulls, is how hard it is to keep your footing on something as unstable as a mountain of human skulls. Most humans probably couldn't manage it, and they've had a lifetime of practice at walking without falling over.
Quote examples
Gemma Whelan
English Actress
I'm more frightened than interested by artificial intelligence - in fact, perhaps fright and interest are not far away from one another. Things can become real in your mind, you can be tricked, and you believe things you wouldn't ordinarily. A world run by automatons doesn't seem completely unrealistic any more. It's a bit chilling.
Quote examples
Nikola Tesla
Inventor
The human being is a self-propelled automaton entirely under the control of external influences. Willful and predetermined though they appear, his actions are governed not from within, but from without. He is like a float tossed about by the waves of a turbulent sea.
Quote examples
David Blunkett
British Politician
At this very moment in time there will be people making, breaking relationships, regretting deeply what they've done, and causing hurt, but that is a fact of life, and if we weren't full of emotion, we'd be automatons, and I don't think people want us to be that.
Quote examples
Jo Brand
British Comedian
I have seen good nurses and bad nurses. They existed along a continuum: from hard-working, kind and competent people, to office-hugging, bone-idle types, to apathetic, disengaged automatons.
Quote examples
Neil deGrasse Tyson
American Scientist
What are we promoting in society? Well-behaved automatons that spew back what they learned in a book. That's not science. You can get a parrot to do that.
Quote examples
Joanna Lumley
English Actress
I think that unless you can take judgments of right and wrong like an automaton, you must have emotions because that is our only way of moral guidance.
Quote examples
Evgeny Morozov
Belarusian Writer
Truly smart technologies will remind us that we are not mere automatons who assist big data in asking and answering questions.
Quote examples
James Cash Penney
American Businessman
Determine to do some thinking for yourself. Don't live entirely upon the thoughts of others. Don't be an automaton.
Quote examples
Anais Nin
American Author
When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.
Quote examples
Randall Munroe
American Cartoonist
What people don't appreciate, when they picture Terminator-style automatons striding triumphantly across a mountain of human skulls, is how hard it is to keep your footing on something as unstable as a mountain of human skulls. Most humans probably couldn't manage it, and they've had a lifetime of practice at walking without falling over.
Quote examples
Gemma Whelan
English Actress
I'm more frightened than interested by artificial intelligence - in fact, perhaps fright and interest are not far away from one another. Things can become real in your mind, you can be tricked, and you believe things you wouldn't ordinarily. A world run by automatons doesn't seem completely unrealistic any more. It's a bit chilling.
Quote examples
Nikola Tesla
Inventor
The human being is a self-propelled automaton entirely under the control of external influences. Willful and predetermined though they appear, his actions are governed not from within, but from without. He is like a float tossed about by the waves of a turbulent sea.
Quote examples
David Blunkett
British Politician
At this very moment in time there will be people making, breaking relationships, regretting deeply what they've done, and causing hurt, but that is a fact of life, and if we weren't full of emotion, we'd be automatons, and I don't think people want us to be that.
Quote examples
Jo Brand
British Comedian
I have seen good nurses and bad nurses. They existed along a continuum: from hard-working, kind and competent people, to office-hugging, bone-idle types, to apathetic, disengaged automatons.
Quote examples
Neil deGrasse Tyson
American Scientist
What are we promoting in society? Well-behaved automatons that spew back what they learned in a book. That's not science. You can get a parrot to do that.
Quote examples
Joanna Lumley
English Actress
I think that unless you can take judgments of right and wrong like an automaton, you must have emotions because that is our only way of moral guidance.
Quote examples
Evgeny Morozov
Belarusian Writer
Truly smart technologies will remind us that we are not mere automatons who assist big data in asking and answering questions.
Quote examples
James Cash Penney
American Businessman
Determine to do some thinking for yourself. Don't live entirely upon the thoughts of others. Don't be an automaton.
Quote examples
Anais Nin
American Author
When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons. We cease to grow.
Example 1 of 10
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