There were some of these in ancient times, but they were mostly for show.

There were some of these in ancient times, but they were mostly for show.

Originally shared by The Public Domain Review

“With pinned cylinders, beginning in the early part of the eighteenth century, people began to design automata that actually enacted the tasks they appeared to perform. The first simulative automata were designed in the 1730s by a Frenchman named Jacques Vaucanson, and quickly became the talk of Europe. Two were musicians, a 'Piper' and a 'Flutist'. The flutist had lips that flexed in four directions, delicate jointed fingers, and lungs made of bellows that gave three different blowing pressures. It was the first automaton musician actually to play an instrument, rather than being a music box with a decorative figure. It played a real flute: you could even bring it your own. Vaucanson’s third automaton was the notorious 'Defecating Duck'. While it flapped its wings and cavorted duckishly, its main attraction was that it swallowed bits of corn or grain and excreted them at the other end in a changed form.”

From Jessica Riskin’s “Frolicsome Engines: The Long Prehistory of Artificial Intelligence”, featured in our new book of Selected Essays: https://buff.ly/2ysKd2O

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