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Minsky's article of 1994 (revised web text), asking whether machines will replace us, states that he does not feel it makes much sense to think in terms of "us" and "them", and that he prefers Moravec's suggestion to think of future intelligent machines as "mind-children". It answers "Will robots inherit the earth?" with "Yes, but they will be our children." Copy claim link
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Date 1994-10 · publication Records dated 1994 → Wording attested 1997-01-02. Revised web text, last modified 1997-01-02; not compared with the magazine pages. Role Earliest located Register (kind of text) Nonfiction Scope and limits Minsky frames the succession as humans making themselves into machines; the naming of Moravec is recorded as a link, not as influence.
The evidence 03 primary source Supports the claim
Will Robots Inherit the Earth? ↗ Copy of Marvin Minsky's MIT Media Lab site hosted at web.mit.edu/dxh; published in Scientific American 271 (4), October 1994 · 1994-10
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Source excerpt “Does this mean that machines will replace us? I don't feel that it makes much sense to think in terms of "us" and "them." Location in source Section "Limitations of Human Wisdom.", paragraph beginning "Does this mean that machines will replace us?"
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
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Source details and check notes Authors Marvin L. Minsky Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 31720270c1a06a4c58da1a470a0f6d891f194cfca12a5f9781f1026cc4449ba5). Author's web text marked "(Scientific American, Oct, 1994 with some minor revisions)" and "Last modified: Wed Jan 02 1997", read in a copy of the MIT Media Lab site hosted at web.mit.edu (the original address returns HTTP 404). Not compared with the magazine pages. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-31 Language English (en) Attribution Marvin L. Minsky, “Will Robots Inherit the Earth?”, 1994-10. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, machine succession, scale and acceleration (research/heterodox-thought). The quotation (24 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (2026-11-01, item 25) classified the record’s passage blind and reached the same stance. No human editorial review. primary source Supports the claim
Will Robots Inherit the Earth? ↗ Copy of Marvin Minsky's MIT Media Lab site hosted at web.mit.edu/dxh; published in Scientific American 271 (4), October 1994 · 1994-10
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Source excerpt “I much prefer the attitude of Hans Moravec of Carnegie-Mellon University, who suggests that we think of those future intelligent machines as our own "mind- children." Location in source Section "Limitations of Human Wisdom.", paragraph beginning "Does this mean that machines will replace us?"
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-11-01
Source details and check notes Authors Marvin L. Minsky Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 31720270c1a06a4c58da1a470a0f6d891f194cfca12a5f9781f1026cc4449ba5). Author's web text marked "(Scientific American, Oct, 1994 with some minor revisions)" and "Last modified: Wed Jan 02 1997", read in a copy of the MIT Media Lab site hosted at web.mit.edu (the original address returns HTTP 404). Not compared with the magazine pages. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-31 Language English (en) Attribution Marvin L. Minsky, “Will Robots Inherit the Earth?”, 1994-10. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, machine succession, scale and acceleration (research/heterodox-thought). The quotation (26 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (2026-11-01, item 25) classified the record’s passage blind and reached the same stance. No human editorial review. primary source Supports the claim
Will Robots Inherit the Earth? ↗ Copy of Marvin Minsky's MIT Media Lab site hosted at web.mit.edu/dxh; published in Scientific American 271 (4), October 1994 · 1994-10
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Cite the original source Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.
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Source excerpt “Will robots inherit the earth? Yes, but they will be our children.” Location in source Final paragraph, before "Further Reading"
How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher
Machine-checked · 2026-11-01
Source details and check notes Authors Marvin L. Minsky Version Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 31720270c1a06a4c58da1a470a0f6d891f194cfca12a5f9781f1026cc4449ba5). Author's web text marked "(Scientific American, Oct, 1994 with some minor revisions)" and "Last modified: Wed Jan 02 1997", read in a copy of the MIT Media Lab site hosted at web.mit.edu (the original address returns HTTP 404). Not compared with the magazine pages. Canonical address Open the canonical source ↗ Accessed 2026-10-31 Language English (en) Attribution Marvin L. Minsky, “Will Robots Inherit the Earth?”, 1994-10. Reuse No open redistribution licence asserted. Bibliographic metadata, editorial paraphrases and short attributed quotations (at most 50 words each). Recheck terms before wider redistribution. Check notes Candidate pack passage, machine succession, scale and acceleration (research/heterodox-thought). The quotation (12 words) matched the text retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31. Matching ignored differences of whitespace, case, quotation marks, dashes and Unicode compatibility forms, so the source’s typography can differ. A cross-family machine check (2026-11-01, item 25) classified the record’s passage blind and reached the same stance. No human editorial review. Status and meaning Editorial status. Machine-checked . Machines found this record and checked it against its sources; no person accepted it individually. Each evidence record above shows how it was checked.
Relation. A passage of the document meets the proposition’s criterion. The record documents what the text states, in its register (fiction and satire are labelled); it is not evidence that the proposition is true and implies no influence on or from another text.
Date. Scientific American, October 1994.
Record ID ht-w02-minsky-1994-will-robots-inherit-the-earth