mechanickal ducks u.s.w.

[Jane]

"Burns, Erik" wrote:
> 
> Mr. Standage, a technology correspondent for the Economist, conveys the 18th
> century's fascination with automatons, from man-made ducks that could flap
> their wings, eat grain and then excrete it to entire miniature orchestras
> playing music commissioned from Beethoven. He also shows how the ingenuity
> lavished on these toys led to more useful discoveries and how the Turk was
> the forerunner of IBM's "Deep Blue," the computer that played and beat Garry
> Kasparov.
> 
> So was the Turk a pure machine or not, you ask? As Maelzel responded to
> Poe's direct question: "I will say nothing about it."
> 
> -- Stuart Ferguson
> 
> Updated April 12, 2002

Kool Stuff! 


Why does Mason raise this issue? Even mentions chess. I think I can hear
the author hear and I think he disagrees with Mr. Mason. to certain
extent. 
I get this feeling because of lots of stuff, but the Luddite essay for
one. 
Also, Mason is talking about the crew in a condescending tone and I
think he
is being satirized. The fact that the duck shows up as he is
pontificating  and that he changes his terms but not his opinion on the
matter seems ironic. Anyway, I'm not sure what the position of the text
is. 
Is it luddite? seems to be. But the text seems to know also that a
computer never beat a man in chess. Never happened. Men with a computer
beat a man without the aid of
a computer. 
Humans are not computers and it's disturbing to keep reading this
metaphor being applied to everything we humans do and are.   brains are
more like
earthworm and function more like the human digestion system than any
computer. Sure,  humans are machines if we want to define machine as 

"An intricate natural system or organism, such as the human body" 

but not machines if we define a machine as: 

"A system or device for doing work, as an automobile or a jackhammer or
a computer, together with its power source and auxiliary equipment."


Says James "In my opinion, there's nothing in this world 
Beats a 52 Vincent and a red headed girl. 
Now Nortons and Indians and Greeves won't do, 
Ah, they don't have a soul like a Vincent 52" 
Oh he reached for her hand and he slipped her the keys 
Said "I've got no further use for these. 
I see angels on Ariels in leather and chrome, 
Swooping down from heaven to carry me home" 
And he gave her one last kiss and died 
And he gave her his Vincent to ride.