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The Metaphysical Can Opener

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Frederik Schodt
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Extract

I first met Mori Masahiro in the spring of 1986, when interviewing scientists for my book Inside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechatronics, and the Coming Robotopia. Mori's focus was on robots and Buddhism, which seemed a novel combination to me at the time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 18 , Issue 23 , December 2020 , e2
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2020

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References

Notes

1 Masahirō Mori and Charles S. Terry, The Buddha in the Robot: A Robot Engineer's Thoughts on Science and Religion (Tokyo: Kosei Publishing, 1985), pp. 7–9. Frederik L. Schodt, Inside the Robot Kingdom: Japan, Mechatronics, and the Coming Robotopia (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1988), pp. 207–10.

2 Mori and Terry, The Buddha in the Robot, p. 8.

3 Mori Masahirō, “Kaichō shūnin no goaisatsu” [Words from the new chairman], Journal of the Robotics Society of Japan, 2 February 1987, p. 3 (translation by the author).

4 Mori Masahirō, “Jizai kenkyūsho no kokoro” [The spirit of the Mukta Institute], in Hannya shingyō wo toku [Explaining the Heart Sutra] (Tokyo: Daihōrinkaku, 2005), pp. 117–19 (translation by the author).

5 Schodt, Inside the Robot Kingdom, pp. 208–9.

6 Honda Dōryū, email to author, 8 October 2019.