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Pre-20th Century Gadgetery

Posted by Zonk on from the yay-science dept.

The Byelorussian Hatter writes "Wired, presumably bored to death of Cellphones, Zunes, MairBook Nacs and what-have-you, looks back at the elegant inventions of a less civilized age. 'The Turk was a chess player concealed in a table packed with cogs and gears, contrived to give the appearance of a mighty chess-playing machine. Atop the table, an articulated automaton would be seen to make the moves determined by the master within. One of the 18th and 19th century's many illustrious hoaxes, the Turk is perhaps the greatest gadget that wasn't.'"

2 of 104 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Probably the Middle Ages... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    You're confusing Europe with "the World," and if you really think the Roman Catholic Church was Europe's Centralized government from the 6th Century to the 13th Century, you should stop reading Slashdot and pick up a fucking history book.

    I'm not Christian nor are any of my friends/family, but this Internet Atheist BS is really tiresome - you're more interested in anti-Church propaganda than the truth.

  2. Re:No weaponry? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Simple because the turk was a lie. Since these reporter people have no hope of ever making a real gadget, a real accomplishment, much less one that's contains purely mechanical robot control, yet lying is easy.

    Believing lies is easy. It's what runs democrat policies. It's what lefties do, and obviously slashdotters like this. After all slashdot is founded on the "mob justice", the constant use of force to silence opinions that are (at the moment) considered "deviant".

    The dolls you mention were real complex accomplishments. Lots of work that resulted in beauty. You're not going to get that sold to any lefty ...