Book Reviews › Character › The Turk
Honest review · Character
The Turk
by Tom Standage
The eighteenth-century chess-playing automaton that fooled Europe for decades, and what it reveals about our wish for thinking machines. Short and charming.
Read it if…
you want the first AI hoax.
See the book →
Skip it if…
you want real AI history.
Try instead: Enemy of All Mankind →
Three things you will actually use
- We want machines to think.
- Hoaxes reveal desires.
- Mechanical Turk lives on.
Do this first
Read the chapters on the tours.
Our verdict
Standage's Turk.
See the book →
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