Qual é a primeira aparição de robôs humanóides na ficção científica?

Eu acho que depende do que você entende por "inteligência artificial" - há histórias muito antigas envolvendo autômatos que lembram seres humanos e às vezes agem com inteligência, como Talos da antiga história grega de Jason e os Argonautas (ou algumas das outras antigas histórias gregas de autômatos listados aqui ), mas pode ser difícil distinguir magia e fantasia da tecnologia em tais histórias. Mesmo depois das revoluções científica e industrial, algumas das primeiras histórias de autômatos inteligentes parecem mais fantásticas do que as da ficção científica, como a "Autômata" de 1814, do escritor de fantasia E. T. A. Hoffmann que pode ser lido online aqui . Um exemplo inicial que parece mais de natureza ficcional científica seria a história do "Sr. Eisenbrass" de uma edição de 1848 da Scientific American , que você pode encontrar na última página de este pdf , em a coluna da esquerda.

A visitor who writes to the Augsburgh German Gazette, was invited with a friend to visit the Doctor's Sanctum. They beheld him seated at a key board similar to that of a piano forte and nearly in the centre of the room was a fashionably dressed young man, whom the Doctor introduced as a Mr. Eisenbrass, who wished the visitors good morning, and re­mained standing until they were seated. At first the conversation was upon the ordinary topics of the day-Mr. Eisenbrass joined with an occasional remark. but to which the Doctor paid very little attention, and kept amusing himself with the keys of the instru­ment, at which he was seated yet without producing any sound. This surprised the vi­sitors, and one said, Doctor your instrument does not seem inclined to be musical at pres­ent. This brought a laugh from the Doctor, which was echoed by Mr. Eisenbrass, in such an unearthly and comical manner that the visitors had to laugh also, although they felt the laugh to be at their own expense. As soon as the visitors became calm the Dr. rose from his seat, and taking them calmly by the hand said, "Pardon me, my dear friends for having played an innocent prank upon you.—Mr. Eisenbrass is the Automaton I invited you here to see; and being the first who has seen it, I could not resist a sort of paternal desire of showing it off, as fond parents always do their first born children.

Apesar de ler esta história, não está claro se o Sr. Eisenbrass realmente tem alguma inteligência independente - pode ser que quando o Doutor aperta as teclas no teclado, ele selecione a resposta exata que o Sr. Eisenbrass está dando, ao contrário de apenas dando ao autômato algumas orientações gerais como "faça uma pequena conversa educada".

Para outro candidato inicial, há o romance L'Eve Future (Amanhã) de Auguste de Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, de 1886, como descrito em este artigo , parece que o andróide tem alguma inteligência independente, apesar de programado para ser servil, um pouco como um Esposa de Stepford ou o Buffybot :

Since Alicia Clary—and by extension, all women—has proven herself unworthy of Lord Ewald's love, Edison will instead create for his friend a perfect specimen, the Eve of a new race of womanhood, “a combination of exquisite substances. . .[that make up] artificial flesh." A robot with Alicia's face, body, and mannerisms, but with a personality designed to cater to Ewald's every whim: “an Imitation Human Being, if you prefer” (p. 61). Edison implies that his creation will be as fully real as Alicia herself: “Her operation will be a little more dependent on electricity than that of her model; but that’s all” (p. 69). She is not the illusion of a woman, but the manifestation of the feminine ideal, mechanized and subject to male control.

Mas esta revisão novamente parece sugerir alguma ambiguidade sobre se esse andróide realmente tem uma inteligência artificial própria (e, se isso acontecer, seja puramente tecnológica ou sobrenatural):

The great mystery of the book--how exactly Hadaly works--though it is elaborated upon at great length, is never clear. One moment, Hadaly is merely a glorified doll with a phonograph and a "central cylinder" inside dictating pre-recorded conversations and movements which Ewald will be able to choose by manipulating push-buttons hidden in her jewelry. But as she converses with both Ewald and Edison, Hadaly appears to be a fully independent and intelligent being, able to speak and act on her own. Then Edison indicates that Hadaly is operated remotely through a combination of electricity and telepathy by a woman kept in a mystical state by a combination of hypnosis and catatonia, and then there is a suggestion that Hadaly is in fact a sort of incarnation of a spirit descended into the world for the purpose either of leading Ewald to a higher plane, or else, perhaps, damning him to hell--and this spirit may or may not be the same person as the aforementioned catatonic telepath. The book seethes with the sense that a higher, fantastical world is ready any moment to burst in on the mundane world; this sense reaches its climax in a goosebump-raising speech of Hadaly to Ewald at the climax, in which she describes her true nature...or perhaps plays an elaborate ruse. It is tantalizingly unclear whether Hadaly merely contains a sophisticated recording of one woman, or of two, or whether she in fact contains the soul of a woman, or merely its imprint, or whether she is something else entirely, or whether she is one thing with the potential to be another.

Outro andróide feminino construído para ser uma esposa pode ser encontrado em "Uma esposa fabricada sob encomenda" (1895), disponível on-line aqui . Curiosamente, este foi de autoria feminina, Alice W. Fuller; critica a idéia de que uma esposa deve ser perfeitamente agradável e nunca expressar pensamentos independentes, mostrando que o homem sexista que achava que seria mais feliz com essa esposa acaba ficando entediado e irritado com ela e quer uma verdadeira mulher que pense por si mesma. . É novamente um pouco incerto se a "esposa elétrica" na história tem até mesmo uma inteligência artificial limitada, ou se apenas responde reproduzindo várias frases enlatadas.

Ainda outra história de mulher-andróide, de Ernest Edward Kellett, "The New Frankenstein", de 1899, parece envolver uma inteligência tecnológica que pode dar respostas a perguntas que não são pré-gravadas ou dadas a ele por um ser humano. (ou alma humana), veja a descrição aqui :

Ernest Edward Kellett's "The New Frankenstein" trumped Edison's accomplishments—in fiction, at least. In it an inventor, Arthur Moore, develops an "anti-phonograph": "a triumph of civilisation" that, in the words of the narrator, can "give the appropriate answer to each question I like to put!" Like Edison's, Moore's instrument is fitted out with two tubes, a receiver (or "ear") and a speaker, from which emerges a "sweet and beautifully modulated feminine voice." He installs the anti-phonograph into "a creature that will guide herself, answer questions, talk and eat like a rational being, in fact, perform the part of a society lady."