Discuss “Creative nonfiction: From robots to transplants”

University of Pittsburgh professor Lee Gutkind will be releasing his newest book, Almost Human, later this month. Last Tuesday, Gutkind visited Wean Hall to discuss both the content of his book and, to a lesser extent, its research process. Almost Human is centered around Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute — its faculty, staff, and students. Gutkind focuses on five key players in the field of robotics, including four Carnegie Mellon faculty members and a NASA scientist. He also focuses on the robots themselves; Almost Human documents both their successes and their failures. At his lecture, Gutkind said that a robot named Zoë was the “primary motivator ... of [the] book.” In the text, he begins by describing Zoë’s shortcomings...