The Story of The Mechanical Turk: the 18th Century Chess Automaton | The History of AI and Games #1

[@AIandGames]

This is the first of two new video series coming to the channel, and I hope you like this slightly different approach. 'The History of AI and Games' will be joined by the first episode of 'Artifacts' later this month. In the meantime, come hang out in our Discord server to discuss this episode (and much more) right here: discord.com/channels/328554213896617986/1104728315480248331

[@wir8]

I'd suggest refraining from using the stock videos with humans. They lack so much "feeling" that sometimes they weird people out.

[@Schmidtelpunkt]

In Germany the word "getürkt" is suspected to derive from the Mechanical Turk. With the foreign workers arriving in the 60s and 70s, the initial reference got eclipsed and it feels rather inappropriate. Also the dismissive connotation might not be too far off from its original intend: The Turkish Wars in the south east of Europe were still going on, less than a century ago the Turks had threatened Vienna. So the image of that Turk was probably chosen to rile the player a bit, a lot like modern games tend to present some kind of zeitgeist baddy - Russians, terrorists, mad billionaires etc.

[@AIandGames]

Ah that's interesting. Yeah I avoided getting into the politics of why it was designed to look like an Ottoman. Figured talking about the British Empire was depressing enough. 😅

[@himagainstill]

To think that 200 years ago someone inserted a player into the guts of the machine, while now we stick the machine into the guts of the player.

[@djbeema]

Hell yes, I'm so down for explorations of relevant history on this channel. Looking forward to more from this series!

[@AlecWiese]

Imagine being Maelzel, trying for years to get your hands on the device, finally getting it at a discount. Then finding out the whole thing was bullshit. But don’t feel bad for him, he carried on the grift after all 😂

[@kakashi4242]

hi professor, the AI exam is tomorrow and im on week3 of the course, any tips on how to do 7 weeks of content overnight? Many thanks!

[@arkane3168]

Was such a blessed exam tho right

[@emem2179]

9:00 You Know I'm Something of a Scientist Myself

[@LyingTube]

Eagerly looking forward to your no-doubt-upcoming treatise on the Colossus of Bletchley Park, this was a great piece on the Turk!

[@AIandGames]

Colossus and Bletchley are on the list of topics to cover. Just trying to figure out what order to tackle them is the problem. We'll be jumping around time quite a lot I think, given I don't see the point in telling the story linearly.

[@muzboz]

Enjoyed that! Looking forward to the next history one!

[@waded4610]

Excellent video, quite enjoyed this one!

[@Luanmm]

Yay, was waiting for the release of the historical series!

[@neferoku]

thanks for such an informative and interesting video

[@StarLightNow]

This is a valid video and I have learned a thing :)

[@AIandGames]

I'll take it!

[@Onomere]

One minor nitpick: Wolfgang vam Kempelen was indeed born in Bratislava. But he was Hungarian, his original name is Kempelen Farkas (farkas translate to wolf in german/english).

[@ALTAI38]

Funfact varg in nordic languages is called a wolf, similarly spelled as fark or farkas as you say

[@ddogg14]

Brilliant video!

[@MegapiemanPHD]

I always saw The Mechanical Turk as a sort of magic trick. While it may not be an actual thinking machine, it's an entertaining and well made show.

[@Rickandmorty_com]

this video is similar to Cold Fusion's latest video on AI. He also spoke about Mechanical Turk and AI washing.

[@alexrubio40]

Thanks for teaching so well while you were at kings

[@MementoTurtle]

You should make a video on "fake players" Some devs sneak bots into their matchmaking, these bots have actual players usernames, I think its a pretty smart trick but its also kinda wack

[@Fyre_Blake]

Kempelen, it's inventor, was a highly accomplished individual. I am surprised what motivated him to resort to trickery?

[@srisaksing]

In fact, Turk is an AI robot that travels back in time. It was impossible for people to stay inside for a long time. There were months of cross-country travel and hours of chess battles. It doesn't make any logical sense that someone must be able to see who is hiding inside. For a human being to stay in a small box for a long time and have to urinate and defecate is simply impossible, and there are many inventors who have come to test the Turk, it is impossible to deceive those inventors. The only possible reason is to go back in time. Or is Turk an AI from the future combined with the machines of that era?

[@Nor-tc8vz]

Would be interesting if a replica was made but with a real ai similar to Alphazero was used.

[@babettesfeast6347]

Another brilliant video which I am enjoying

[@Ceastment]

Well this was neat

[@slopaxo]

i recently made a music video with ai. may be the best one you have seen yet. let me know what you think

[@Status_Bleach]

Nice

[@howilearned2stopworrying508]

I cant beat the AI of Chessmaster II on Playstation 😅

[@blushslice]

NEW VIDEO 🎉

[@d3layd]

♟️

[@pass-the-juice]

i'm amazed amazon hasnt been cancelled for that name in todays climate

[@Matthus8888]

Excellent video!