But the king flew into a rage when apparently the automation started to flirt with the ladies in attendance and threatened the automation with execution. The automation was indistinguishable from a human and performed various tricks for the king and his entourage. In chapter 5 King Mu of Zhou is on tour of the West and upon asking the craftsman Master Yan Shi 'What can you do?' the royal court is presented with an artificial man. The implications of humanoid automatons were discussed in Liezi (4th century CE), a compilation of Daoist texts which went on to become a classic. Įarly Chinese lore on the legendary carpenter Lu Ban and the philosopher Mozi described mechanical imitations of animals and demons. Humanoid automations also feature in the Epic of King Gesar, a Central Asian cultural hero. The 'precious metal-people' weeped when Buddha Shakyamuni died. The Buddhist scholar Daoxuan (596-667 AD) described humanoid automata crafted from metals that recite sacred texts in a cloister which housed a fabulous clock. Many ancient mythologies included artificial people, such as the talking mechanical handmaidens ( Ancient Greek: Κουραι Χρυσεαι (Kourai Khryseai) 'Golden Maidens' ) built by the Greek god Hephaestus ( Vulcan to the Romans) out of gold. Miniature from a 14th-century manuscript of Pygmalion working on his sculptureĬoncepts of artificial servants and companions date at least as far back as the ancient legends of Cadmus, who is said to have sown dragon teeth that turned into soldiers and Pygmalion whose statue of Galatea came to life.

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