Clanker: The New Social Media Slur for Robots

In yet another unsurprising twist, social media users have found a new way to express their disdain for artificial intelligence and the tech industry’s fixation on automation — by reviving an old insult: clanker.

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Originally utilized in the Star Wars prequels as a derogatory term for battle droids, clanker has regained traction as a tongue-in-cheek insult directed at real-world robots and the pervasive presence of artificial intelligence. The term, which was popularized by clone troopers, has become a shorthand for ridiculing the ambitions of tech elites who envision an AI-powered future.

Thanks to the enduring influence of those films on meme culture, the term has been plucked from a galaxy far, far away and dropped squarely into contemporary discourse.

The rise of clanker is also a reaction to the relentless enthusiasm for AI from evangelists like Elon Musk and Sam Altman. Take, for example, Musk’s tireless promotion of his humanoid robot, Optimus. Recently, Musk and Tesla unveiled a retro-style diner in California, complete with popcorn served by the Optimus robot. Musk has previously claimed that this robot will one day “roam around homes, tackling chores from laundry to lawn care.”

Moreover, this development is not an isolated case; it also reflects the numerous attempts by tech startups and giants such as Amazon to create humanoid robots designed to replace service workers.

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As clanker continues to spread across social media, it has evolved into a medium for a darker brand of humor. Users are engaging in mock-roleplaying scenarios of robot racism, creating exaggerated posts about anti-clanker sentiment, and discussing how they would react in a world dominated by robots.

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Of course, there are individuals who oppose the use of the “c-word,” as highlighted by a tweet that expresses the potential shame they might feel fifty years from now if they had to explain to a robot that “it was a different time.”

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It’s largely satirical. However, it also mirrors a very real cultural sentiment: individuals are grappling with the constant threat of being supplanted by machines, and a future that appears increasingly synthetic. They are responding with memes, mockery, and a borrowed piece of sci-fi slang.