Illustration
Auto-tunes
In 19th-century Europe, small musical automata were commercially available, portable music players.
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Chariot
Wind-up toy carriages were cheap, flashy and interactive, like the 19th-century equivalent to video games.
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Peacock Fountain
From 14th-century Persia, Al-Jazari’s moving peacock fountain used a mechanism similar to that found in modern flush toilets.
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Pocketwatch
18th-century erotic pocket watches were as discrete and portable as internet porn.
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Satan Machine
In medieval Italy, clerics commissioned “Satan machines” to frighten their congregations, like scary theme park animatronics.
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Talos, the Giant
Talos is a giant bronze man from Greek mythology; created by Hephaestus to protect Princess Europa, he is an early example of the fantasy of robot servants.
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The Mechanical Turk
Von Kempelen's Mechanical Turk (1770) sparked early discussion of artificial intelligence by appearing to play games of chess.
Work by
Madeleine LeBrun
Illustration
“"Automatic Ancestors" depicts historical automata (lifelike machines) juxtaposed with elements of the modern technologies they anticipate. In this way, various aspects of “modern” technology are...” [More]