The Mechanical 'Turk': Wouldn't You Prefer a Good Game Of Chess?

During the 18th century, early animatronics were hot. They were featured in circuses, carnivals, and other touring exhibitions, and were usually built and operated with various parts like axles, chains, cogs, gears, levers, pulleys, wheels, wind-up keys – you get the point. For Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, in 1769, Hungarian inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen’s created the Mechanical Turk, a chess-playing machine that could beat almost any person who played against it. The Turk appeared to be a fully functional artificial intelligence to those who saw and interacted with it. It left audiences delighted, but baffled as to how it worked -- until a young poet named Edgar Allan Poe convinced many audiences it was not what it seemed.

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