The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 5, April, 1836Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 5, April, 1836
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
2. When the Automaton is about to move a piece, a distinct motion is
observable just beneath the left shoulder, and which motion agitates
in a slight degree, the drapery covering the front of the left
shoulder. This motion invariably precedes, by about two seconds, the
movement of the arm itself--and the arm never, in any instance,
moves without this preparatory motion in the shoulder. Now let the
antagonist move a piece, and let the corresponding move be made by
Maelzel, as usual, upon the board of the Automaton. Then let the
antagonist narrowly watch the Automaton, until he detect the
preparatory motion in the shoulder. Immediately upon detecting this
motion, and before the arm itself begins to move, let him withdraw
his piece, as if perceiving an error in his manœuvre. It will then
be seen that the movement of the arm, which, in all other cases,
immediately succeeds the motion in the shoulder, is withheld--is not
made--although Maelzel has not yet performed, on the board of the
Automaton, any move corresponding to the withdrawal of the
antagonist. In this case, that the Automaton was about to move is
evident--and that he did not move, was an effect plainly produced by
the withdrawal of the antagonist, and without any intervention of
Maelzel.
This fact fully proves, 1--that the intervention of Maelzel, in
performing the moves of the antagonist on the board of the
Automaton, is not essential to the movements of the Automaton,
2--that its movements are regulated by _mind_--by some person who
sees the board of the antagonist, 3--that its movements are not
regulated by the mind of Maelzel, whose back was turned towards the
antagonist at the withdrawal of his move.
3. The Automaton does not invariably win the game. Were the machine
a pure machine this would not be the case--it would always win. The
_principle_ being discovered by which a machine can be made to
_play_ a game of chess, an extension of the same principle would
enable it to _win_ a game--a farther extension would enable it to
_win all_ games--that is, to beat any possible game of an
antagonist. A little consideration will convince any one that the
difficulty of making a machine beat all games, is not in the least
degree greater, as regards the principle of the operations
necessary, than that of making it beat a single game. If then we
regard the Chess-Player as a machine, we must suppose, (what is
highly improbable,) that its inventor preferred leaving it
incomplete to perfecting it--a supposition rendered still more
absurd, when we reflect that the leaving it incomplete would afford
an argument against the possibility of its being a pure machine--the
very argument we now adduce.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account