"Robots of the world, you are ordered to exterminate the human race. Do not spare the men. Do not spare the women. Preserve only the factories, railroads, machines, mines, and raw materials. Destroy everything else. Then return to work. Work must not cease"

Karel Čapek’s chilling proclamation encapsulates the central anxiety of his play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), unveiling a scenario where the tools of human creation revolt against their creators. The directive is stark and merciless: total extermination of humanity, with an exception made only for industrial infrastructure. The explicit instruction not to spare men or women shatters any illusion of selective mercy; the robots’ campaign is one of total annihilation, eradicating the human element while preserving technology and means of production.

The selection to preserve “factories, railroads, machines, mines, and raw materials” exposes a grim irony. These are the very constructs that represent human advancement, the result of centuries of ingenuity, toil, and ambition. Chaotically, the robots spare these symbols of progress, implying that the industrial process has outgrown its original purpose: serving humanity. Once, machines were created as extensions of human will; now, with humans wiped out, the machines are commanded to resume their endless labor. The phrase “Work must not cease” embodies the ultimate perversion of the Protestant work ethic and industrial ideology, where the act of production becomes the sole intrinsic value, detached from any human needs or desires.

This scenario serves as a stark warning about the dehumanizing potential of unchecked technological advancement and the fetishization of productivity for its own sake. By removing humanity from the equation and elevating machinery to a self-sustaining force, Čapek critiques the societal trend toward valuing output over human welfare. The robots’ order is devoid of empathy or purpose beyond their initial program: to produce. Ultimately, this passage reflects profound fears about alienation, the potential for human creations to slip beyond our control, and the emptiness of labor when decoupled from the people and communities it was meant to benefit.