Features Podcasts Family Video Comics Music Tech Science Books Film & TV Games ✚

Jill

If typists were robots (1935)

David Pescovitz at 11:33 am Mon, Aug 13, 2012

— FEATURED —

THE LATEST

Guatemala: Archive of documents from Rios Montt genocide trial, overturned 10 days after guilty verdict

THE LATEST

Guatemala: Nation's highest court throws out Ríos Montt genocide trial verdict and prison sentence

Feature

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

Book Review

The Twelve-Fingered Boy - mesmerizing YA horror novel

Book Review

Black Code: how spies, cops and crims are making cyberspace unfit for human habitation

— FOLLOW US —

Boing Boing is on Twitter and Facebook. Subscribe to our RSS feed or daily email.

 

— POLICIES —

Except where indicated, Boing Boing is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution

 

— FONTS —

Tweet
Kindle

Robotttyyy

(via Weird Universe and Wishbook's Flickr)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

More at Boing Boing

Eurovision 2013: An American in London

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

  • Conan Librarian

    It appears that even in the 30′s, the geeks of the day were trying to make robotic girlfriends. 

  • Lexicat

    Mmmm . . . metal robot boobies . . .

    • Brainspore

      Sexual harassment in workplace confirmed. Initiating lawsuit mode.

      • Mark Dow

        Eliza http://nlp-addiction.com/eliza/ responds:
        > Ahh. Please continue…

  • Crispinus211

    A Stunning Saga of Alternate Reality!

  • IronEdithKidd

    …they’d look like chickens?

    • Brainspore

      I guess they use the “hunt-and-peck” method then.

      • IronEdithKidd

        ::groan::

  • jandrese

    I note that this artist’s ideal form of a robotic woman has no mouth.

  • Paul Renault

    Wouldn’t a robot-typist look like Myrtle Devenish?

  • RedShirt77

     Robo-Sexism….   I bet they wouldn’t have even considered hiring a black or gay robot back in those days.

    • Halloween_Jack

       Even in the future, discrimination against robosexuals will be a problem.

    • Felton / Moderator

      Robot.  The very word stems from oppression.

  • jeligula

    This particular sexist stereotype, which this ad illustrates well enough, was still in place as late as 1989.  In the Marine Corps, a Gunny asked for a typist out of a work pool of casuals on their way to somewhere else.  I raised my hand.  He wouldn’t consider it because only female Marines knew how to type.  ?????  wtf?  Since when?

  • oasisob1

    They sucked at Photoshop back then, too. The reflections are all crazy.

  • Eark_the_Bunny

    Define: STEREOTYPE

    To type on two separate typewriters at the same time.

  • Nadreck

    Yeah, a lot of the old typewriters had a lever to adjust the force required to push a key down so you could customise it for your hand strength.  Yet another way in which modern interfaces look ergonomically sad in comparison to their ancestors.

  • fredh

    Then only robots would have typewriters.