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Automaton is a Greek word, meaning “acting of one’s own free will”. Today it’s used to refer to some kind of mechanism or machine that does something automatically. The concept of a self-operating machine is actually fairly ancient: in Greek mythology, the god Hephaestus often created living machines, like the giant defender of Crete, Talos. In China the legendary artificer Yan Shi is said to have created flying mechanical reproductions of birds for the Emperor.
But there’s one particular, much more recent
automaton that deserves to be discussed. The so-called Turk.
