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‘Automata, or “living machines,” are manmade devices that imitate life functions. They can be as simple as wind-up dolls or as complex as a Cray Supercomputer. Computers (thinking machines) are automata, of course … as are pacemakers and dialysis machines. In fact, over the last two generations automata have gone from being the stuff of fairy tales (Tick Tock of Oz and the Golem of Prague to name a few) to being such an integral part of our daily lives that they are rapidly on their way to becoming transparent tech.
‘The construction of ‘living machines’ (and the associated debate about whether ‘living machines’ were actually living at all) is a surprisingly old pastime. The most sustained and productive periods of automata development occured in ancient China and 18th century France and Swizterland. The most famous 18th century automaton was Vaucanson’s mechanical duck, a metal duck covered with cloth and feathers that allegedly swam, flapped its wings and digested food … which was, depending on how you look at it, a miraculous piece of technology or a very complicated and expensive dirty joke.
‘Vaucanson’s duck sparked a mania and inspired many other mechanical ducks, as well as a number of other types of automata including the famous Jaquet-Droz automatic writer and von Kempelen’s Chess Player. The Chess Player was eventually revealed as a fraud; it housed a secret chamber from which the ‘automaton’ was operated over the course of a decade by a veritable cabal of Europe’s greatest human chess players.
Nonetheless, these devices were considered serious (albeit popular) science in their day. With shifting intellectual styles, however, they became curiosities, and many of the most famous ones were taken apart, lost to rust and decay, or just lost period. Nonetheless, the great era of French automata did introduce a significant idea to European scientists: the conviction that animals, including humans, were machines whose functions could (given sufficient knowledge and technical skill) be accurately reproduced by mechanical means. These ideas were popularized by books such as L’Homme Machine (or ‘Machine Man’) and in scientific expeditions. They would be revisited by Alan Turing, Seymour Cray, the Big Blue designers … in short, by all the scientists who developed the various technologies that I used to write this webpage and you are now using to view it.’ — Chris Moriarty
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Thomas Kuntz ‘Une Saison En Enfer: Verlaine, Absinthe, Rimbaud’
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Paul Spooner ‘Cat Drinks poisoned milk’ automata
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Henri Maillardet ‘The Poet Automaton 1810’
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Andrew Meyer ‘Don’t Tase Me Bro’ automaton
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Nathalie Claude’s salon automate “sing” Vitalic’s polkaniatic
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Jaquet Droz ‘La Machine a Ecrire le Temps’
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Keith Newstead ‘Theater Dogs’
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Ghost automaton
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Thomas Kuntz ‘Automaton: Death + Resurrection: In the Chamber of Reflection’
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Jack Donovan Collection ‘Automaton of Cleopatra’
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Karakuri Ningyo Japanese writer automata
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Rabbit in a Cabbage Automaton
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‘The Jailer’
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Sausage Automaton: early 20th century butcher window advert
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Thomas Kuntz ‘L’Oracle du Mort’ Fortune Telling Magician Automaton
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Scratching DJ Automata
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L’automate ecrivan et artiste de Jaquet Droz
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San Francisco Opium Den Automaton
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Paul Spooner ‘Zuppa Turca’
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New baby automata
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Jaquet Droz ‘Singing Bird Watch & Automata’
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Matthew Doll ‘Mario automaton’
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Keith Newstead ‘The Devil Rides Out’
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Sand clock automata
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Thomas Kuntz ‘The Great Kundalini, Thelemagician’
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Le Buffet Magique
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St. Dennistoun Mortuary Automaton
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Creepy Lady
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‘Tippoo’s Tiger’
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Vichy Ball balancing clown
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p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. ‘Mars Attacks!’ rules. ** Dominik, Hi!!! My pleasure. You’ve never seen ‘WoO’? See, now that’s totally mind-blowing to me. Cool. My guess is ‘WoO’ could work in companionship with any other TV series or movie. It’s like a glass of water. Well, maybe you can help my Love out and publish a few of his love poems in SCAB. Or edit them into poems that would be SCAB-appropriate. Do jumping beans really exist? I can’t remember. I remember my parents bought me some as a kid, but I can’t remember if they were just a fake gag gift. Love kicking the ground floor tenants out of your apartment building (assuming you live in an apartment building and not on the ground floor) and turning their apartments into a miniature golf course, G. ** Tosh Berman, Yes, lots to wonder about. If you have to die young, it’s good to have a charismatic death. ** _Black_Acrylic, Oh, no. Ack, so sorry, Ben. You are most certainly not living in the Golden Ages of your life right now, but, yes, good to know, and good to be fixed. These are the blurriest days, even out here. Stay tough and as creative and inputty as possible, buddy. ** Steve Erickson, Wow, very strangely I did not even know there was a new Cheap Trick album, so the buzz hasn’t reached my browser. But I will snag it post-haste. I don’t think one can expect exciting from a new Cheap Trick album at this point, as much as I worship them. Fine with one or two knock out tracks seems doable though. God love them. New song! Everyone, Something for your hearing abilities from Mr. Steve Erickson. Take it away, Steve. SE: ‘I meant to include a link to this song I wrote today, “The Great Cop in the Sky”. (The spoken word sample comes from an interview with Claire Torry, the singer on Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky.”) I made very heavy use of processed samples of wind and fans, and I was going for an effect of the melody, mostly played on harpsichord, slipping in and out of those louder droning noises.’ ** Billy, Hi. Hm, I have no idea about that no government money thing. Logically, I kind of doubt it? Surely there were other name pop and other type artists who weren’t on that payroll. But I don’t know. Is ‘Men in Black 3’ the one sans Will Smith, etc.? You kind of made it almost alluring. I watched a Norwegian disaster movie last night called ‘The Tunnel’ dubbed into English, and it kind of did the trick. It made me re-appreciate how all the inter-relationship stuff and mushy emotional stuff in disaster movies are just dried out signifying prompts, and it made me want to figure out how they successfully manage to evoke human personal dilemma without making one care the tiniest bit and how functional and hence subliminally enjoyable that is. Or something. Oh, mm, I don’t know why your lifelong Londoner status seemed wow really. It just did, I guess because I only see London as a place where things of interest can be visited for the short term? Oh, listen, I hate the kind of writing you hate too. Big time. The erudite and literary and filigree festooned and classy are hell earth to me, especially when they’re dolling up extremely faux-formal play and experimentation. That’s the enemy. And, of course, that’s not what I meant about liking your writing, which did not evince those miserable qualities. Au contraire. No, in fact, the psychiatrist my mom sent me to told me to just lie and tell my mom I was going through a phase, which worked, so I thought it was cool. Dude, I was thought to be the consummate nuthouse-bound kid when I was a kid. Gotcha on the public/private thing. Have you ever read Blanchot? He’s a master at prying into and representing that conundrum. ** Shane Christmass, It’s been years, but I remember the Willeford novel being very good. I do have the pdf. It’s on my desktop in fact. So, yeah, you can spare yourself the postal charges if that’s easier. Never seen ‘Backbeat’. What a band. Well, except for Dave Grohl. And I guess Pirner, but he had good hair. I love ‘Bad for Good’. It’s hilarious. Steinman was completely genius at nailing a kind of multi-faceted mawkishness, musically, and he was a master of simple but multi-level sentimental (but not really) lyrics. Quite a guy. ** Right. Today I ask all of you to get in touch with your overgrown, wide-eyed, slightly antique child aspects. So, please do that. See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
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Here’s my favorite Automaton
Have you had an “Erik Satie Day”? Well you should</A.
Here's a nice little piece on
Gavin Lambert and Paul Bowles
Tomorrow is the 6oth Anniversary of “Judy Garland at Carneige Hall.
It’s a Gay High Holy Day.
Dennis, Automatons are scary. Skeery!
Though I see androids in the nearish future. Time is a bitch, so nearish can be 500 years from now. Kinda wondering what China’s on about putting human DNA into monkey embryos. That’s fucked up, too.
I wouldn’t mind a robot who could do things for me.
Hahaha, I’m still playing like a dunce. Getting better though. Now getting into the dreaded barre chords. Ugh. The F particular is a bastard.
I’m coming up fast on Closer’s rejections. Hoping to have at least 30 by the start of summer.
I’m actually going to change one phrase and see if that makes a difference. It doesn’t really change anything, may even make it more layered, but we’ll see.
I like how these agents say, “I’m looking for X, Y, and Z” and my novel checks all those boxes and then they respond that it’s not a good fit. Of course, it could just be that the writing is shit and I’m totally delusional. Oh, well, onward and upward.
Had another childhood friend OD. He was more friends with my brother, duh, but I grew up with him, went to school with him, had him in my classes and all that. He actually stopped by a few years ago with someone else and I talked to him for a while. He was batshit fucking nuts, but still…ugh.
What a great day on one of my great obsessions, wow! I like the older all-mechanical automatons a lot more than the fancy electric modern stuff. That police brutality piece is so great. And the San Francisco Opium Den of course! I’ve been the Musee Mecanique several times, but don’t remember seeing it. Maybe it was being repaired or something.
And that Stuart Sutcliffe was quite a dish. Hmm.
Mostly (unproductively) busy with work this week. But I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I did squeeze in a couple old Korean horror movies that don’t date so well.
Bill
Hi!!
Literally everyone I know has seen “Wizard of Oz,” but I’m always THAT person in every group. There are so many classics I haven’t seen. It’s a deal now, though. When we get together for a “Queer as Folk” binge, we’ll watch “Oz” as well.
Ah, what a lovely idea! Yes! I’d definitely like to publish your love’s poems in SCAB! I’ve just finished sending out some acceptance emails, anyway. I’ve decided to publish all accepted pieces on an ongoing basis from now on, collecting them into issues every March and September, so the first new SCAB baby arrives on Monday.
I’ve only had these fake plastic jumping beans when I was a kid; they kind of… wobbled around, haha. But let’s say the real thing exists, too, because my love wouldn’t want to send you some shitty B version. I do live in an apartment building and not on the ground floor, so your love is most welcome to kick out my ground floor neighbors and turn their apartment into a miniature golf course! Maybe even I’d leave my place to have some fun there sometimes, haha. Love walking on the ceiling with a cane, Od.
Denn-o-Vision: “Don’t tase me, bro!” This is so totally DC blog. That Rimbaud/Verlaine one is a wow. Same w/ the Cleopatra. You see the breathing! Watched Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain last night. If “watched” is the proper word. Likewise, I consumed I Love Dick by Chris Kraus in 2 sittings and experienced a kind-of freak-out throughout. I have lots to say about it. You and David Ehrenstein are right about Mars Attacks being tres rad (if anyone doubted). It arrived like an immediate parody of Independence Day. Got the proofs of Dennis Wilson and Charlie Manson (!) Lastly, I did write that Uber Granny story, as you instructed. What should I write next?
Oddly, a fear of people sleepwalking through life without control of their minds has real political currency now on the left and right, and it’s also popped up in a lot of the horror movies I’ve been watching recently. Tired: literal zombies. Wired: tulpas. (After watching the Slenderman doc, which excerpts several videos suggesting that the culture brought the monster into a real existence through an unintentional form of collective magick, Tulpamancy YouTube is the next weird corner there I should explore!)
Hi Dennis,
We made our own little versions of these automatons in school! Such fun. I always wanted mine to do something very complicated which dowling rods and a teacher’s patience didn’t permit.
According to google it does have Will Smith, but alas, no allure. I’ve never felt any evocation of human dilemma in a disaster movie. It’s no different to a Buster Keaton movie: hold the house up, win the girl; nothing more than balancing act -often literally. I appreciate the dexterity. Steamboat Bill and Eight-Legged Freaks are essentially the same movie.
I suppose to an expat it does seem odd. To tell the truth I’ve never really connected with London, but as yet I’m too much of a snob for the provinces. It holds fond memories, but in spite of everything I have only appreciated it’s cultural centrality by contrast with other places. As far as that goes, I see it in much the same way I see the more obscure parts of the avant-garde: they’re of no particular interest to me, but I’m glad they’re there.
Were you ever consummated in a nuthouse? When I was in I asked a guy if he’d ever fucked a loon and he sent me a little message back saying ‘get well soon.’ Very sweet. Very minimal. Tread softly, for you tread on my episodes.
Blanchot is new to me- I will have to read him when I have time. Do you mean his fiction or his theory? I’m currently reading Lucifer with a Book -did you ever read it? Poor John Horne Burns wrote very funny bitchy novels he could never get published but he got it into his head that he could come out in print as a vicious queen after having written a war novel. Terrible hubris. Dropped dead in his whisky like a hungry bluebottle. Possibly not worried enough about what people would think of his writing, for someone who was too ambitious for the avant garde.
Still it’s wonderful – the last of a slave-trading family, a bitter old virgin on her death bed, flirts with a poor farmer’s son and they share ‘a flash of understanding and pain- his in prospect, hers in retrospect’ before she dies and is buried, ‘not too near her Aunt Emily, who had had a heart attack from reading Mrs. Stowe’s novel in its first edition’.
I suppose an automaton is a kind of primitive gif- the little repetition of some meaningless motion
Hey, Dennis,
These unsettling mechanical contraptions offered a much-needed shiver for my Friday, thanks. Also thank you for the kind wishes re: my scare. Things have empirically improved since but I still feel like I’m in an emotional dumpster. School stress, inertia, the future, etc. I’ll manage I’m sure. Yes, my younger brother is an artist. He has been for a long time. I’m truly very fond of his work and think it can be quite beautiful, and I feel certain that fraternal bias only accounts for a small part of that. Your Tuesday sounded truly lovely. Have the days since proven just as refreshing? I do hope so. Happy Friday, Dennis.