AE. 17 | The Antiquarian Horologist- Brittany Nicole Cox

AnalogExplorer

11 months ago

AE. 17 | Mechina Intelligence (early access)

Listen now | It's interesting that right now, artificial intelligence is really dominating the headline. Society once again is awestruck and surprised that machines, mechina, can “simulate intelligence” or act like they are alive. It can come off like magic inside of a box or a ghost in a machine in this digital age. As I am a Battlestar Galactica fan, that got me thinking, has this all happened before and shall happen again? Was there ever an analog artificial intelligence? On this eqisode I explore the idea of looking at my take at the closest thing I can think of to an analog-ai, or Mechina Intelligence. Now, of course, as I'm a technologist it is easy to jump back to Ada Lovelace and the analytical engine and the concepts of the beginning computer programming. But I wanted to go back even futher, and arguablly even deeper. Looking at the ancient world of automata machines, devices that run on their own off of the mechanical power and yet in their era; acted like or can simulate what a human or an animal could do.

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It's interesting how artificial intelligence is dominating the headlines. Society once again is awestruck that machines, mechina, can “simulate intelligence” and act like they are alive. It comes off like magic inside a box or a ghost in a machine. As a Battlestar Galactica fan I got to thinking; has this all happened before and shall it all happen again? Was there ever an analog artificial intelligence? On this episode, I explore the closest thing I can think of to an analog AI or mechina intelligence.

As a technologist, it is easy to jump back to Ada Lovelace and the analytical engine, the concept for the beginning of computer programming. But I want to go back even further and arguably deeper. Looking at the ancient world of automata machines, devices that run off their own mechanical power, these mechina could simulate life.

These centuries-old technologies were once some of the best artisanal technology in existence. Many of the concepts that constructed those automata are closely linked to the art and science of horology.

On this episode, meet Brittany Nicole Cox Vashon Island here in Washington State. She's is an Antiquarian Horoglogist and owner of Memoria Technica. Nico specializes in the conservation and restoration of antique automata, mechanical musical objects, complicated clocks and watches, and, perhaps her favorite mechina of singing bird objects.

If there was ever an analog artificial intelligence, then Nico's specialized craft in horology and automata is probably the closest thing to it that I'll find. What did civilizations think hundreds of years ago when these technological artisans created this mechina intelligence? Perhaps a better question is, in today's horology, is there still a place for mechinca automata?

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