Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 14, No. 700.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
<http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/>
<http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/>
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 10:01:53 +0000
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: more than defecating ducks
Jessica Riskin's talk at Berkeley, "The Defecating Duck", advertised in
Humanist 14.0698, refers I suspect to the famous automaton built by Jacques
de Vaucanson (1709-82) in Paris sometime after he moved there from Grenoble
in the mid 1730s. A lengthy quotation about de Vaucanson's duck from Sigvar
Strandh: The history of the Machine (Dorset Press, New York, 1979) is to be
found at <http://music.calarts.edu/~sroberts/articles/DeVaucanson.duck.html>.
The history of automata ("self-actuating things") begins with Homer's
description of the wheeled "tripods" built by Hephaistos, "that of
themselves they might enter the gathering of the gods at his wish and again
return to his house, a wonder to behold" (Il 18.373-7). Is there a study
that surveys this history in detail and demonstrates its continuity with
the computer?
Yours,
WM
-----
Dr Willard McCarty / Senior Lecturer /
Centre for Computing in the Humanities / King's College London /
Strand / London WC2R 2LS / U.K. /
+44 (0)20 7848-2784 / ilex.cc.kcl.ac.uk/wlm/
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