History Main / ManVersusMachine

* In one episode of ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', every member of the group think that they have the fastest way to get across town (bus, subway, [[TokenEvilTeammate faking a heart attack to steal a ride on an ambulance]], cab etc...). Marshall claims that he can run the whole seven miles faster than any machine. To his credit, everyone gets there at the same time, meaning he backed up his claim fairly well. When they decide to settle it by going all the way ''back'' however, he collapses on the sidewalk out of exhaustion.

-->--Shodan, ''SystemShock''

* [[AC:Death]]/Bill Door versus the combine harvester in ''[[Discworld/ReaperMan Reaper Man]]'', though this is a slightly unfair one, given the whole anthropomorphic personification of Death thing...

-->The man responsible was inventor Elias Smurton, who in 1807 built his revolutionary steam-powered computer, the Data Belle, which featured a fourteen-ton floppy diskette that required forty men and a team of horses to insert. Seeking to publicize his invention, Smurton staged a computing contest between his machine and one of the leading mathematicians of the day, John "Henry" [=LaFromage=]. In a dramatic demonstration of the awesome potential of automated data processing, the human competition was literally "blown away" when the Data Belle, attempting to add 2 and 7, exploded with such force that what was believed to be [=LaFromage's=] pancreas was found nearly four miles away. Clearly, nobody was going to stand in the way of this amazing new technology.

* Spoofed in ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode ''TimeChasers'': Near the end of the film, the protagonist is climbing down a tree to get away from a crashed light aircraft that's threatening to fall on him[[hottip:*:Very reminiscent of ''Film/JurassicPark'', which is indeed [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]]]. The ''MST'' crew identifies this as an example of ManVersusMachine - and immediately begin cheering "Goooo machine!"
* In one episode of ''HowIMetYourMother'', every member of the group think that they have the fastest way to get across town (bus, subway, [[TokenEvilTeammate faking a heart attack to steal a ride on an ambulance]], cab etc...). Marshall claims that he can run the whole seven miles faster than any machine. To his credit, everyone gets there at the same time, meaning he backed up his claim fairly well. When they decide to settle it by going all the way ''back'' however, he collapses on the sidewalk out of exhaustion.

----

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyan Paul Bunyan]] and Babe the Blue Ox get in on the act, too, when they go up against the mechanized saw in a tree-cutting contest. Interestingly, Paul loses (by a quarter of an inch, in WaltDisney's version).

* ''WsternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' Episode Spongebob vs. the patty gadget was simply Squidward makes a machine that creates krabby patties and challenges spongebob to see if he's faster, spongebob wins when the machine blows up.

* Spoofed in ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode ''TimeChasers'': Near the end of the film, the protagonist is climbing down a tree to get away from a crashed light aircraft that's threatening to fall on him[[hottip:*:Very reminiscent of ''JurassicPark'', which is indeed [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]]]. The ''MST'' crew identifies this as an example of ManVersusMachine - and immediately begin cheering "Goooo machine!"

* ''CourageTheCowardlyDog'' had such an episode (I believe it was titled 'Courage vs. Mecha-Courage') where the titular character ended up going up against his robotic doppleganger in a contest. The maker intended to prove the robot dog was 'better' and... he was. The one thing it lacked, however, was Courage's tenacity. In the end, it finally broke down, leaving Courage, battered and bruised, the winner by default.

* Gary Kasparov versus Deep Blue in TabletopGame/{{Chess}} . Though as someone noted, humans programed Deep Blue and Kasporov had electronic assistance himself and it might be more accurate to call it [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] versus TechnoWizard.

-->--Shodan, SystemShock

* In ''[[{{Rocky}} Rocky IV]]'', Rocky trains by doing [[NatureHero manual labor in the snow and exercising in a barn.]] [[BigBad Ivan Drago]] trains in a lab surrounded by high-tech devices and monitored by scientists. Rocky wins the fight since he has "[[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway heart]]".
* Megaweapon!!!!

''Look at you hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bones, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?''
---Shodan, SystemShock

LadiesAndGerms, in this corner, we have TheJohnHenry. A pathetic pile of a meatbag, with skin completely incapable of suffering major lacerations. Loaded with pain receptacles that will severely dampen his ability to keep up in an environment where the hurt will lay into them endlessly and mercilessly. Only the human spirit can give this pathetic creature any hope for survival.

* Gary Kasparov versus Deep Blue in {{Chess}} . Though as someone noted, humans programed Deep Blue and Kasporov had electronic assistance himself and it might be more accurate to call it [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] versus TechnoWizard.

* The classic John Henry story is what pioneered this trope.
** And it was averted humorously in the TransformersHeartsOfSteel miniseries - where the steam drill suddenly stood up and said (effectively) "We don't have to challenge each other - why don't we be friends, instead? My name is Bumblebee!"
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bunyan Paul Bunyan]] and Babe the Blue Ox get in on the act, too, when they go up against the mechanized saw in a tree-cutting contest. Interestingly, Paul loses (by a quarter of an inch, in WaltDisney's version).
* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'' has this as an explicit ongoing theme, with humans relying on chunky old-fashioned machines with a lot of manual controls. The Cylons, by contrast, are robots with incredibly sexy starships.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TaleSpin'' episode "From Here to Machinery" has an inventor introducing the Auto-Aviator, a robot pilot. To much fanfare, Baloo competes with the Auto-Aviator in a race; unfortunately, he loses to the tireless machine, with devastating results as the successful demonstration puts the Auto-Aviator in the limelight and many pilots out of a job. However, it turns out that the Auto-Aviator has a crushing weakness: its inability to deviate from its flight plan under any circumstances, ''even when the plane is in danger'', and Shere Khan's own plane, piloted by one of the machines, ends up flying right into an Air Pirate attack. In the end, Baloo saves the day, and Shere Khan sees that the inventor is left peddling his robots in [[GrimUpNorth the frozen wastes of]] [[{{Ruritania}} Thembria]].

* In [[{{Rocky}} Rocky IV]], Rocky trains by doing [[NatureHero manual labor in the snow and exercising in a barn.]] [[BigBad Ivan Drago]] trains in a lab surrounded by high-tech devices and monitored by scientists. Rocky wins the fight since he has "[[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway heart]]".
* Gary Kasparov versus Deep Blue in {{Chess}} . Though as someone noted, humans programed Deep Blue and Kasporov had electronic assistance himself and it might be more accurate to call it [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] versus TechnoWizard.
** Some years later, IBM's Watson[[hottip:*:IBM also developed Deep Blue]] was put on ''{{Jeopardy}}'' against two human champions including Ken Jennings[[hottip:*:He of the 75-day winning streak]]. The computer cleaned their clocks, and in the last Final Jeopardy, Jennings wrote as his response "[[MemeticMutation I for one welcome]] [[TheSimpsons our new computer overlords.]]"

* CourageTheCowardlyDog had such an episode (I believe it was titled 'Courage vs. Mecha-Courage') where the titular character ended up going up against his robotic doppleganger in a contest. The maker intended to prove the robot dog was 'better' and... he was. The one thing it lacked, however, was Courage's tenacity. In the end, it finally broke down, leaving Courage, battered and bruised, the winner by default.

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* The ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" features the Apple family and their old-fashioned cider-making ways pitted against the Flim-Flam Brothers and their fancy cider press, the titular Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000. The stakes are ownership of Sweet Apple Acres and the rights to sell cider in Ponyville. [[[spoiler:The Flim-Flam brothers win, but nopony wants to drink the cider they made because they cut so many corners in order to win the contest and they end up getting run out of town.]]

* ''Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined'' (the newer version) has this as an explicit ongoing theme, with humans relying on chunky old-fashioned machines with a lot of manual controls. The Cylons, by contrast, are robots with incredibly sexy starships.

* '' BattlestarGalactica'' (the newer version) has this as an explicit ongoing theme, with humans relying on chunky old-fashioned machines with a lot of manual controls. The Cylons, by contrast, are robots with incredibly sexy starships.
* ''TheMatrix'' shows this as the aftermath of the RobotWar. The humans firmly believe that the use of their own human spirit is the only thing separating them from the machines, and is the only real advantage they have.
* An episode of ''{{TaleSpin}}'' has an inventor introducing the Auto-Aviator, a robot pilot. To much fanfare, Baloo competes with the Auto-Aviator in a race; unfortunately, he loses to the tireless machine, with devastating results as the successful demonstration puts the Auto-Aviator in the limelight and many pilots out of a job. However, it turns out that the Auto-Aviator has a crushing weakness: its inability to deviate from its flight plan under any circumstances, ''even when the plane is in danger'', and Shere Khan's own plane, piloted by one of the machines, ends up flying right into an Air Pirate attack. In the end, Baloo saves the day, and Shere Khan sees that the inventor is left peddling his robots in [[GrimUpNorth the frozen wastes of]] [[{{Ruritania}} Thembria]].

** Some years later, Deep Blue was put on ''{{Jeopardy}}'' against two human champions including Ken Jennings[[hottip:*:He of the 75-day winning streak]]. The computer cleaned their clocks, and in the last Final Jeopardy, Jennings wrote as his response "[[MemeticMutation I for one welcome]] [[TheSimpsons our new computer overlords.]]"

** Some years later, Deep Blue was put on ''{{Jeopardy}}'' against two human champions including Ken Jennings[[hottip:*:He of the 75-day winning streak]]. The computer cleaned their clocks, and in the last Final Jeopardy, Jennings wrote as his response "[[MemeticMutatio I for one welcome]] [[TheSimpsons our new computer overlords.]]"

Who will win? Well, that's a question for the plot. Given that good guys almost always succeed, bet on that horse first- but more often than not it's the human we're supposed to be rooting for. Since God help us if the robot revolution comes and they really are better than us.

LadiesAndGerms, in this corner, we have TheJohnHenry. A pathetic pile of a meatbag, with skin completely incapable of suffering major lacerations. Loaded with pain receptacles that will severely dampen his ability to keep up in an environment where the hurt will lay into them endlessly and mercilessly. Only the human spirit give this pathetic creature any hope for survival.