Claim · 1991-07 · publication · Stated in source · Supported

Moravec's essay of 1991 states that "meek humans would inherit the earth, but rapidly evolving machines would expand into the rest of the universe".

One recorded claim. The claim panel gives its qualification, the source passages with their place in each source, and how it was checked.

What it connects

The Universal Robot → articulates → Machine intelligence spreads beyond Earth

Where it appears

Machine succession, scale and acceleration: propositions in located texts, 1979–2026 →

Claim and evidence

The Universal Robotarticulates ↓Machine intelligence spreads beyond Earth

Machine-checkedStated in sourceSupported

Supporting evidence: primary · 1 source

Date: 1991-07 · publication Records dated 1991 →
Wording attested: 2026-10-31. Wording read in the copy retrieved on 2026-10-31. An Internet Archive capture of 1999-02-09 exists but could not be compared, since the Internet Archive refused the research pack's retrievals; if the capture is found identical, the wording is attested from 1999-02-09. Not compared with any printed version.
Role: Articulation
Register (kind of text): Nonfiction

Scope and limitsA conditional forecast.

The evidence 01

primary sourceSupports the claim

The Universal Robot

Hans Moravec (author-hosted HTML); the author's publication list gives printings in Ars Electronica 91 (September 1991), Analog (January 1992) and elsewhere · 1991-07

Cite the original source

Cite the original document, not Selekoa. Check these details against it.

Source excerpt

“Meek humans would inherit the earth, but rapidly evolving machines would expand into the rest of the universe.”

Location in source Section "Mind Children (2050+)"

How it was read Retrieved directly from the publisher

Machine-checked · 2026-11-01

Source details and check notes

Authors: Hans Moravec
Version: Retrieved for the candidate pack on 2026-10-31 (SHA-256 33ee68f71f05c3d3db73c992720d296878d5dd22b253591e9c0149c3b11e3c68). Author-hosted HTML printing "© July 1991 by Hans Moravec" and "(4700 words)". Earliest capture located: 1999-02-09 (not compared). Printed versions not inspected.
Canonical address: Open the canonical source ↗
Accessed: 2026-10-31
Language: English (en)
Attribution: Hans Moravec, “The Universal Robot”, 1991-07.
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 (18 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. 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. Informal report of July 1991.

Record ID ht-w10-moravec-1991-universal-robot