Shake, Bot
March 16, 2015 12:51 PM   Subscribe

Politicians Shaking Hands with Robots, Ranked
How many Merkels have you spotted so far?
The correct answer is "a suspicious number of Merkels."
Why Is Angela Merkel Always Palling Around With Robots?
posted by dame (20 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Those Honda robots with the flexed knees always look like they are about to poop.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:13 PM on March 16, 2015 [7 favorites]


That's the high quality comment MeFi has come to expect from Capt. Rock T. Steady.
posted by Rock Steady at 1:14 PM on March 16, 2015 [11 favorites]


Perhaps Merkel mistook the robots for members of Kraftwerk.
posted by Strange Interlude at 1:17 PM on March 16, 2015 [5 favorites]


From the article:
You can see the disdain on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's face. Or maybe it's confusion. Either way, it's not a good look.
Yeah, I think that's what he looks like all the time, robot or no robot.
posted by mhum at 1:20 PM on March 16, 2015 [7 favorites]


That's a lotta Merkels.
posted by univac at 1:25 PM on March 16, 2015


Has anybody administered the Voigt-Kampff test to Angela Merkel? If so, how many questions did it take before she asked, "Are you trying to determine if I'm a replicant or a lesbian?"
posted by jonp72 at 1:27 PM on March 16, 2015 [6 favorites]


Robot, I've been waiting,
I've been waiting night and day.
I didn't see the time,
I waited my battery life away.
There were lots of iterations
and I know you coded some,
but I was waiting for the Merkel,
for the Merkel to come.
posted by univac at 1:30 PM on March 16, 2015 [4 favorites]


"He could speak out 700 words (using a 78-rpm record player), smoke cigarettes, blow up balloons, and move his head and arms."

We could use another robot
Like Herbert Hoover again.
posted by clavdivs at 1:44 PM on March 16, 2015


Perhaps she's afraid that they will blow her cover and reveal her as MechaMerkel, Queen of the Robot Future....
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:00 PM on March 16, 2015


why is that small robot presenting her with an enormous orange. what is it doing with that orange? did it produce it? are robots using grow-rays on our citrus and then presenting them to angela merkel, possibly as bribes? we later see another robot handing her a regular-sized apple, so clearly the inexplicably enlargened citrus fruits are not available to every faction of robotkind.

if i disappear after this comment is posted and cortex is presented with a large tangerine or lime, do not mourn, but avenge me
posted by NoraReed at 2:40 PM on March 16, 2015 [5 favorites]


Don't think that we aren't keeping track of who respects us, come the roborevolution.
Regards, Skynet,
posting as ↓
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:49 PM on March 16, 2015 [1 favorite]


Seems kind of disrespectful on the blogger's part not to identify all the robots by name. They have names, you know. Or at least designations.
posted by contraption at 2:51 PM on March 16, 2015 [2 favorites]


The robots gave Chancellor Merkel the honorific title 'Mutti' long before the people of Germany took to it. But they don't mind that we Germans use it too now (or at least they don't interfere if we do).
posted by Ashenmote at 3:41 PM on March 16, 2015


If so, how many questions did it take before she asked, "Are you trying to determine if I'm a replicant or a lesbian?"

Given that is how she answers every question, I will guess the very obvious "one".
posted by Meatbomb at 4:25 PM on March 16, 2015


From the article:
You can see the disdain on Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's face. Or maybe it's confusion. Either way, it's not a good look.
Yeah, I think that's what he looks like all the time, robot or no robot


Harper is just pissed that the robots run off electric batteries and not tar sands oil.
posted by srboisvert at 4:45 PM on March 16, 2015


I think the correct group noun is "a Mehrzahl of Merkels".
posted by uosuaq at 6:51 PM on March 16, 2015


I think I know where the next SRL show will be.
posted by boilermonster at 7:32 PM on March 16, 2015


Before politics, Merkel was scientist. Wik: "Merkel worked and studied at the Central Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin-Adlershof from 1978 to 1990. After being awarded a doctorate (Dr. rer. nat.) for her thesis on quantum chemistry,[24] she worked as a researcher and published several papers."

So, hangs wit bots, 'cause: science.
posted by ovvl at 8:05 PM on March 16, 2015


Is it too much to ask for a picture of Merkel wearing the tomato-dispensing robot? Because I would love to see that.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 12:35 AM on March 17, 2015 [1 favorite]


Is it weird that Merkel looks her best when in the company of robots? No awkward stances, smiling...
posted by pseudocode at 3:53 AM on March 17, 2015


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