Maillardet’s programmable drawing boy (1800) was like an early computer.
In 19th-century Europe, small musical automata were commercially available, portable music players.
From 14th-century Persia, Al-Jazari’s moving peacock fountain used a mechanism similar to that found in modern flush toilets.
In medieval Italy, clerics commissioned “Satan machines” to frighten their congregations, like scary theme park animatronics.
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.
18th-century erotic pocket watches were as discrete and portable as internet porn.
Wind-up toy carriages were cheap, flashy and interactive, like the 19th-century equivalent to video games.
Automatic Ancestors
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 revealed to be much older than commonly thought.
