Aristotle


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	Click to Enlarge Greek text	... a slave is a live article of property. And every assistant is as it were a tool that serves for several tools; for if every tool could perform its own work when ordered, or by seeing what to do in advance, like the statues of Daedalus in the story, or the tripods of Hephaestus which the poet says ‘enter self-moved the company devine,’ — if thus shuttles wove and quills played harps of themselves, mastercraftsmen would have no need of assistants and masters no need of slaves. (Aristotle, Politics, transl. by H. Rackham, 1253b)

... a slave is a live article of property. And every assistant is as it were a tool that serves for several tools; for if every tool could perform its own work when ordered, or by seeing what to do in advance, like the statues of Daedalus in the story, or the tripods of Hephaestus which the poet says ‘enter self-moved the company devine,’ — if thus shuttles wove and quills played harps of themselves, mastercraftsmen would have no need of assistants and masters no need of slaves.
(Aristotle, Politics, transl. by H. Rackham, 1253b)

	For Aristotle, robots existed only in legend, but he says that if there were machines that can do such complicated things as weaving and music playing, there would no longer be a need for slaves. Nowadays, when anyone can listen at any time to the music he or she wants using a small device, it can be said that the vision of Aristotle has become reality. H. G.
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