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| Automaton Chess Master | ||
| A man-shaped device that plays flawless chess. |
| One of this nation of mighty conjurors created a man out of brass and wood, and leather, and endowed him with such ingenuity that he would have beaten at chess all the race of mankind, with the exception of the great Caliph, Haroun Alraschid. |
| Technovelgy from The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade,
by Edgar Allen Poe. Published by Godey's Lady's Book in 1845 Additional resources -
|
Poe here is writing about the Mechanical Turk, first displayed in 1770. It presented the public with an astonishing automaton playing chess, but which in reality concealed a chess master in its lower cavity, moving pieces with levers and magnets.
Compare to the automaton chess player from Moxon's Master (1911) by Ambrose Bierce.
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'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
'The men are dead, but their acquired wisdom lives on and I am the beneficiary.'
'Young people found the driverless car admirable for petting.'
'After twenty generations of shillyshallying...'
