1770s cypherpunks - programmable writing doll - Fwd: 240 year old doll from Switzerland...

[Zenaan Harkness]

The inspiration for the movie Hugo is actually a true story of a master Swiss watchmaker who make an actually writing doll which could actually be programmed to choose which and which sequence of letters to write.

This doll still works today.

  http://www.chonday.com/Videos/the-writer-automaton
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ux2KW20nqHU
  https://mymodernmet.com/jaquet-droz-automata/
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaquet-Droz_automata
  https://www.chonday.com/15454/the-writer-automaton/


There's also a 2019 indie horror movie which apparently riffs on the theme, "The Devil's Machine".

  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8339704/reviews



----- Forwarded message from Gil May <gilmay97 at gmail.com> -----

From: Gil May <gilmay97 at gmail.com>
To: reader at gmail.com
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2020 08:25:01 +1000
Subject: Fwd: 240 year old doll from Switzerland...

*Brilliantly ingenious *


*Subject:* *240 year old doll from Switzerland...*

Greetings All,

Especially those of you who like to tinker with computers.  It amazes me
the doll was built 240 years ago when computers as we know them today had
not been thought of.

A 240 - year - old doll that can write, a clockwork creation by Pierre
Jaquet-Droz. Yes, it’s 240 years old.

 This clip will fascinate just about all the engineers, artists, clock
makers, doll makers, computer programmers, want - to- be inventors or
basically  anyone out there that likes to tinker. This is more than
tinkering.  When you view this, think computers.

Enjoy. It is truly amazing.
Remember, this was built in the 1770'

http://www.chonday.com/Videos/the-writer-automaton



Regards

Gil

----- End forwarded message -----