ABSTRACT
I began this book by discussing some of the ways in which modern elements of systems theory, robotics, and artificial servants are anticipated by Renaissance androids and intelligent systems. That served to set the stage for the literature and artifacts we were about to survey. Having ranged through a number of representations of intelligent systems—both real and fictional, humanoid in figure or function—we now have a basis from which to explore resonances between the intelligent slaves of yesterday and today, although they diverge somewhat because of the effects of time and culture. What follows is a survey of three points of contact between the representations of pre-industrial and pre-empirical humanoid servants and their modern counterparts.
