The Chess Machine With a Human Secret

Transcript

In seventeen seventy, the Mechanical Turk amazed audiences by appearing to play chess on its own.

Its exhibitor opened cabinet doors to show off the machinery.

But a skilled chess player was concealed inside.

He shifted position as the doors opened, staying out of sight.

During play, magnetic indicators revealed moves on the board above.

Levers let him control the figure’s arm and move the pieces.

The cleverest part wasn’t the machine’s thinking.

It was hiding the person doing it.

Attribution

Research: Computer History Museum, Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum and Thomas Jefferson University; historical engraving: Windisch (1783), via Wikimedia Commons (public domain); illustrative AI reconstructions: OpenAI and Meta AI; original 3D animation and editing: AskPandi; narration: ElevenLabs. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}