Automata a story of human ingenuity - and some amazing connections.

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Once in a while I do take a break from worrying about our drive towards self destruction, I love spending time learning about different aspects of history be it Earth’s history or human history. With the years the tapestry of fascinating threads of information start building up an incredibly rich portrait of humanity’s achievements and yes sadly ultimately fatal failings. Here’s another one of those examples of slaves in the salt mines ultimately enabling fantastic art and ingenuity and invention.

Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams 2013 https://app.curiositystream.com/video/1154/mechanical-marvels-clockwork-dreams Journey through time, exploring the bizarre and untold history of automata - intricate moving clockwork machines, made in the pre-industrial age to mimic humans and animals. These devices are beautiful and disturbing at the same time.
As a craftsman I'm particularly fascinated by the actual fabrication of all those tiny parts. Every part was hand made, precision made, by candle light, the achievement is staggering if you spend anytime pondering the process. Imagining the finished product and figuring out how to get there. I mean someone built a little kid looking automata that could write a notes, different notes and draw pictures, simply via a series of cams that operated tiny levers and connections. Crazy man. From clock works to automata to the modern world.