Why is it called “Mechanical Turk?”
The name is an homage to “The Turk,” a machine constructed in 1770 by Wolfgang von Kempelen. It was purported by its inventor to be an automaton that could play chess well enough to defeat human opponents. The device featured the animatronic torso of a Turkish man whose robotic arms moved above a chess board, upon which its moves were automatically displayed. Originally constructed for the amusement of the Empress of Austria, the machine was exhibited for over eighty years throughout Europe. It mystified audiences, defeating famous human opponents, including Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon.
In reality, the machine was secretly operated by a human hiding inside the wooden exterior, who manually chose the chess moves made by the machine. To create the illusion of no one inside, a false interior was designed to show machinery and hide the human operator if the device’s doors were opened. The device was eventually revealed as a hoax, and was accidentally destroyed by fire in 1854.
AWS, HIT, Internet terms
