James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

Long before former Google engineer Blake Lemoine publicly wondered if the LaMDA AI he was supposed to test for discriminatory speech was, in fact, a sentient being, the world wondered about the ...

Discusses the invention by Wolfgang von Kempeden of a mechanical man made of wood and powered by clockwork, and its impact on the history of technology.

Once upon a time in the 18th century, a fantastic chess-playing machine known as the Mechanical Turk was exhibited around the world, stunning audiences with its ability to beat skilled players and ...

Who was [Leonardo Torres Quevedo]? Not exactly a household name, but as [IEEE Spectrum] points out, he invented a chess automaton in 1920 that would foreshadow the next century’s obsession with ...