Pre-20th Century Gadgetery

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.'"

Comments

For an earlier perspective...

[weeboo0104]

Edgar Allan Poe wrote an essay about The Turk in 1836 titled "Maelzel's Chess Player".

Re:No weaponry?

[Lemmy Caution]

I'm surprised they didn't include the Japanese automaton dolls from the Edo period, the karakuri ningyo.

Re:No weaponry?

[tsjaikdus]

>> I'm surprised they didn't include the Japanese automaton dolls from the Edo period

I'm more surprised that the Droz automata are not listed. If 'The Turk is perhaps the greatest gadget that wasn't', then the Droz androids are the gratest gadgets that actually were. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ypKJWXFj48&feature=related

Re:Makes you relize

[ColdWetDog]

Medieval peasants knew how to slaughter a cow: we don't. We know how to operate a microwave: they didn't. Only collectively we clearly know more.

Let's not get all excited by this "royal we" concept. Some of us can slaughter a cow - you need not be a medieval peasant, just someone who grew up or has worked on a farm or ranch.

I think your premise is a bit flawed. Clearly, as a society or race or species (however you choice to enclose large groups of humans) "we" understand and can manipulate much larger bodies of knowledge than say, a medieval priest or even royalty. But on an individual level, this is also true. Lots of folks I know can slaughter a cow, at least pretend to fix a microwave, certainly fix an internal combustion engine, use a complex piece of electronic equipment (and I'm not talking about an iPod), shoot a gun, etc. recall the quotation from St. Heinlein:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.