Please don't lump all "Americans" into the group that destroyed this robot. There are assholes in every country, and that doesn't excuse them. It also isn't a reason to be bigoted against everyone in a very very large country.
Sorry, I didn't mean to generalize Americans (as I am one myself). Unfortunately, the few bad people spoil things for the many good people whose songs go unsung.
>Please don't lump all "Americans" into the group that destroyed this robot. There are assholes in every country
The 'all "Americans"' didn't destroy the robot, they're just fertile ground for the assholes who did. It like 'all Muslims' aren't terrorists, they just fertile ground for terrorists.
Assuming the OP wasn't changed, this title breaks the HN guidelines. Please don't use the title field of HN submissions to editorialize. This was a bad case since the provocation derailed the discussion immediately.
So, this is the sad yet inevitable outcome that we've known about from Sci-Fi for some time. When you combine the darker side of human nature and anthropomorphized robots that cannot defend themselves, malicious vandalism and destruction is a given.
The philosophical question remains - when does it cross over from being classified as destruction of property to something like assault.
> Whoever did that to the robot would shit a brick if the robot started screaming.
I would assume so, but the robot looked vaguely humanoid, with a smiley face and all. Someone of a sane mind should feel bad defacing such a thing, but seeing as they didn't, they perhaps wouldn't have batted an eye if it had started screaming.
