WEBVTT - The Pooping Duck: When Robots Digest 0:00:03.800 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:13.640 Works dot com. Hey, welcome this stuff to Blow your mind. 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.200 My name is Robert lamp and I'm Julie Douglass. Julie, 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:21.080 we've discussed in the past how robots and uh in technology, 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.480 the the emergence of both of these overtime, the evolution 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:27.400 of these technologies. Um, we go hand in hand with 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.280 the side idea that we but we look at the 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:33.959 human body and we eventually discover, hey, this is basically 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:36.640 a machine. It's a machine made out of blood and 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.960 muscles and bone and tissue of different types. But we 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:42.400 can look at like say the arm, and we can 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.040 be like, oh, well that moves because that pulled on 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:49.880 something there and that released there. Yeah, And it is 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:52.600 so on one one side, we're figuring out how the 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:54.600 human body works. On the other side, we're learning how 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.280 to build things. We're learning how to make little machines, 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:00.920 little eventually clockwork devices even And you see this as 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:03.560 you know, I mean way back to Leonardo da Vinci's day, 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:07.280 where we're creating things that can can move of their 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:10.319 own power, or can where you can manipulate and use 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:12.320 like a puppet or something you know, so we begin 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:14.479 to reach this point where we're like, Hey, the human 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.600 body is a machine and I can make machines. So 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:20.880 I'm gonna make a machine that is the human body, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:24.559 or I'm gonna attempt to make a mechanical effects simile 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:28.480 of this particular um part of the human body. Right, 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.760 It's not enough that you would just create something in 0:01:31.800 --> 0:01:33.720 your own image. We actually want to see how the 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:36.760 systems work. Yeah, I mean it's part of the you know, 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:38.760 it's it's part of understanding it. Let me create a 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.040 working model of that so I can better understand how 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.840 that works and at the same time, I can, you know, 0:01:44.040 --> 0:01:48.160 live this whole Frankenstein dream a little bit of of 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:52.240 creating another human body. Almost. Yeah, And so to me 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:55.000 it means that we just get to merge two of 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.400 of our favorite topics, or at least for me. Yeah, 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.640 what are those robots and poop? Yes? In this podcast, Yes, 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:05.000 as the title UH indicates, we are going to discuss 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:10.320 a robotic pooping duck uh from the past. Uh, specifically 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:14.080 from the seventeenth century. But but having discussed this whole 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:16.480 idea that you know that we really want to mechanically 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:19.440 replicate different functions to the human body, it makes sense. 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:22.120 And within that framework, yeah I'm pooping duck. You just 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:24.200 hear about it, you know, just read off the cuff 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:27.680 and it seems insane. Yeah, it sounds like I remember 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:29.920 finding these. People may have seen these before, but they 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:31.400 used to make these little I think we're made out 0:02:31.360 --> 0:02:33.760 of a lead or something horrible, maybe some sort of metal, 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:36.240 but uh, but it seems like they were probably made 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:38.640 out of lad or something. But you you would put 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:40.239 a little firework in it, and it looked like a 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.680 little dog. And when the firework would go off, it's 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:44.639 kind of like the little things that make snakes, like 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.440 these little black actions. Yeah, and they would they made 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:50.880 a version of it, you know, back in like I 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:52.799 don't know, the thirties ere or even say for like 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:54.960 the World Exposition or something. Yeah, yeah, I don't know, 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:56.240 but I mean it's the kind of thing that like 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:58.640 my dad would have played Luther when he was a kid. Um, 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:00.880 and you would put the fire work in the little 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:03.600 metal dog lighted up and then like it would look 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:05.840 like the dog was pooping. It would look like black 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.840 excrement was coming out of the little metal dogs behind. Yeah, 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.240 So that's an example of where the you know, the 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.639 science was making the dog do something that was funny. 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:18.120 It was funny that this little tiny dog was pooping. 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.000 Science was making a joke. So on one one hand, 0:03:21.040 --> 0:03:23.600 the duck we're about to discuss does that. It is 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:28.760 amusing to see a robotic duck defecate. Um, but it 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:31.160 is all It also ties well into this idea of 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.720 here's a function of the human body. Uh, if the 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.080 human body is a machine, then I should be able 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:39.040 to create a machine that does this function. Yes, yeah, yes, 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:41.960 so we'll discuss that and and I'm jumping ahead just 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:44.720 for a moment, but we'll also talk about creating a 0:03:44.760 --> 0:03:49.880 machine a machine just for the purpose of creating excrement 0:03:50.760 --> 0:03:53.000 at some point, and then we will talk about its 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:57.200 true pooping robot. Yes, because this first model that we're 0:03:57.200 --> 0:03:59.640 gonna look at is is slightly problematic. But but let's 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:04.680 go back blueprint. Yes, so let's go back to the hundreds. 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.560 All right, we're in France. Um, let's say you were 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:11.480 You're on the streets of France, uh, streets of Paris, 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:13.960 and you're just you're walking around. You get maybe you 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:17.320 got a little extra coin in your pocket, jingling there, 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.520 you know, maybe you're you're you're a little loaded with 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:24.080 delicious wine and and fatty foods and uh, and suddenly 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.120 you hear somebody talking about, Hey, come see the pooping 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:31.280 duck we have or the canal did you Oh gosh, 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:35.000 that was so slaughtered. But what that means is digesting duck. 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.880 The digesting duck, the fabulous digesting duck. So you can imagine, like, 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:41.320 you know, you go into this exhibition hall and they you, 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.960 you pay, you drop your coins into the bucket and 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:47.400 you get to go in, and then they unveil this 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:56.479 amazing um um example of modern technology and it really yeah, yes, automato, 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:58.919 which is really important to talk about too, But it 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:04.400 is this gleam beautiful sculpture. Basically, imagine setting up on 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:07.479 this pedestal and it's it's gold. It's a gold plated 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:11.479 copper duck, all right. Um. The it has gilded copper 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.880 feathers that are that are that have a little holes 0:05:14.880 --> 0:05:17.080 in and that allows you to see the inside a 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:19.159 little bit, so you can tell that it's it's both 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.000 the work of art and it's and it's some sort 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.560 of a machine. It's uh. And then it's in the 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.960 shape of a duck, which is it. So it's both 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:29.640 you see both the natural world. You have the comedic 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.880 going on there because ducks are inherently funny, um and uh. 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:37.400 And then it's also clearly a machine of human ingenuity. 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:39.120 And then it's also this you know, like I said, 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:42.120 it's made out of gold. It's it's it has precious metals. 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:43.920 It's beautiful to the hole. Yeah, I mean some ofs 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:49.080 like it was, you know, taken down from Olympius Mount Onlympius, 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.720 you know, from the gods, and it has tons of 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:56.120 moving parts, hundreds four hundred moving parts and each wing. Yeah, 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.800 you said you were reminded of the mechanical owl from 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:03.000 Clash of the Titans, right, Oh, actually there's something else that. Yeah, 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:07.680 I often am reminded of Bibo. Yes, this reminds me 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:12.000 of Febo as well. But okay, so you're you're there, 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.200 and the things pretty awesome. And then it starts to move. 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:17.960 It muddles its water with its beak, it appears to drink. 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.800 It kind of sets up and sets down, and then 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.680 somebody feeds it some with some grain pellets, I believe, 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:28.160 and it eats it and it kind of you know, 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.720 it actually has a swallowing motion, swallowing motion and uh, 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:36.440 and then it eventually poops. Yeah, I mean this is 0:06:36.440 --> 0:06:38.160 the big part of it, right, And this is this 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.600 is the part of the funny equation. Right again, it's 0:06:40.600 --> 0:06:42.240 it's a duck, and it's already funny, but it's now 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:44.560 it's pooping. Yeah. And it's explained though that the grain 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:48.240 is passing through tubes to a chemical filled stomach in 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:52.000 the base and then on through the duck's bowels anus 0:06:52.160 --> 0:06:56.560 and a mechanical sphincter. Yeah. And again that there are 0:06:56.600 --> 0:06:58.440 parts of it where you can see you could like 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:00.880 part the wings and you can see the glass beneath 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:04.320 it and the duck's innards. So this is completely fascinating, 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:07.040 Like I'm here and now, but can you imagine in 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:10.480 the seventeen hundreds beholding such a spectacle? Yeah? It begs 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.080 the question who created this duck? Right? Who's this? Who? 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:16.840 What kind of brilliant and maybe slightly demented mind came 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.640 up with this? Right? A talented French engineer by the 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:22.200 name of Jacques de vi Clessan. Yeah, he was born 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:28.160 in seventeen o nine died two and ms French engineer. 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:32.440 He was really into creating these automatons. These uh, specifically 0:07:32.800 --> 0:07:36.320 what we're referred to as philosophical toys, which are curios 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.720 that combines science and amusement, which you know, it's kind 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:41.640 of like you know, a pooping duck or or or 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:44.120 something to where it's the the ultimate function of this 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.200 particular automaton. It's like the iPhone of its time, well, 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:51.920 but the iPhone has purpose. This is more like, let's demonstrate. 0:07:51.960 --> 0:07:54.000 It's kind of like some of these demo robots you 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.000 see today where it's like, wow, it does something amazing, 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:00.040 but it's kind of pointless, like it's it's demonstrating a 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.440 certain technological skill and it shows that, oh, well, these 0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:06.680 guys really figured out something clever in making this, but 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:10.280 ultimately it doesn't do anything. Well, yes, not to him, 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.880 because he and this is from the book Digital People. 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:14.679 He gave an address in which he said he wanted 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.360 to construct an automat on that will quote imitate in 0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:22.320 its movements, animal functions, the circulation of blood, respiration, digestion, 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.640 and the combination of muscles, tendons, nerves to understand the 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:28.760 different states of human beings and to heal their ills. 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:31.920 So he really did have a purpose beyond this. It 0:08:32.000 --> 0:08:34.120 was about, let's create a model, working model of something 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:36.520 so we can understand the original, which is not unlike 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.640 what we do today when we when we are dissect 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:41.680 animals or we run studies and we try to figure 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.160 out how they react to their environment so and so forth, 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:45.960 so that we can then take that knowledge and apply 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.040 it to ourselves. But the model in and of itself 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.520 doesn't do anything aside from right. Yeah, now, some of 0:08:52.559 --> 0:08:54.439 the other thing, earlier things he had done. He had 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:58.880 made android waiters in seventeen to serve dinner and clear 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:03.760 a table, yes each apparently um was some visitors deemed 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.959 this profane and ordered the workshop destroyed this one who's 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.440 working and more closely with the church. Yeah, but I 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:11.880 mean that probably did seem like some sort of weird 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.439 witchcraft right at the time. And you can imagine it 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:18.920 going kind of off to like uh in the Walls 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:21.400 and Grament cartoons, where he's always making like the automated 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.719 UH like delivery system that shoots him down to his 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:27.720 breakfast table, dresses him, yeah, and dresses him and drops 0:09:27.760 --> 0:09:29.959 toast out and put butters the toast, and it always 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:32.040 goes wrong, so it ends up like getting jam fired 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.080 into his face. I like to picture that like church 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:39.120 officials coming and uh uh and uh vakasan um having 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:41.360 all these devices that just end up, you know, shooting 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:45.800 jelly and terrifying and they're like forget it. Yeah. But 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.160 then he also created a mechanical flute player that was 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.720 supposedly just really impressive too, because it was like powered 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:54.800 by nine different bellows, and it was this little wooden 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.240 man that would play twelve different melodies in the flute. 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:00.160 It had like a metal tongue supposedly that regulated air 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.959 passing through the lips. It had gloved wooden fingers that 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:06.240 covered the holes in the flute as required to play 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:08.560 these different melodies that would seal off the air. So 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.920 it's like this fabulous little clockwork wooden man would play 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.640 the flute and people were just really in office, and 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:17.400 and then he would he realized the time was right 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.080 for the duck, right, and the duck really sort of 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.920 vaulted his career quite a bit. You would think that, 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:25.920 you know, some people might look down in it, but no, 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.560 I mean it made him are more famous than he 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:30.920 already was. Yeah, he seemed to realize that apparently he 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:34.640 was quoted as saying that some ladies or some people 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:37.120 who is that French enough, that's kind of gone off 0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.839 into some sort of some ladies or something. Now it's 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:44.120 it's sounding like laughing or something. Some ladies or some 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.960 people who only like the outside of animals, would have 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.559 rather seen something else. Uh, you know, he's that he 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:52.800 that he was. He was sort of already sort of 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:54.360 joking like this is kind of I don't know if 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:56.240 you're ready for this. So there's you know, he even 0:10:56.240 --> 0:10:58.040 he realized there's sort of a freak show kind of 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.199 vibe to this. Yeah. Yeah, right, he had to kind 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:02.520 of put that disclaimer out there. Although we'll say the 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:05.440 ladies were probably most excited to see it, even if 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.880 they couldn't voice it at the time. Uh. Yeah, Voltaire 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:11.880 was actually he seemed impressed. Although it's it's hard to 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:14.400 say because this comment could be taken anyway, but he 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.720 said without vau consonance, duck, you have nothing to remind 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:19.920 you have the glory of France. Like he was a 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:21.400 bit of a smart alec, because it's hard to say 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:24.080 whether or not he really felt that way. Yeah, and uh, 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:29.760 I was really fascinated too by the by one particular 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.960 theory as to why he was fascinating fascinated with with 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:38.440 defication and UH and mechanical ducks and again it ties 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:40.560 into the whole. Let's make a working model of something 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:44.480 so we can understand it, um. And uh. Apparently he 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:49.240 was a man preoccupied by the state of his digestion. 0:11:49.559 --> 0:11:54.840 He may have suffered from fistula of the anus um 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:57.840 and so this plagued him and UH, I mean, I'm 0:11:57.840 --> 0:11:59.640 not going to go into the details of this, but 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:01.679 it's a really horrible thing to have to suffer from, 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.800 especially uh in this day, at this day and age. 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:10.439 And so his own focus on this machine bowels and 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.520 anus and sphincter um may have been his own reflection 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:18.880 on his his personal preoccupations. That makes sense. I mean, 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.920 if he especially if he's trying to solve the riddle 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.880 of his digestive self system for himself, and you know, 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.560 and he had the capabilities to make this this uh 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.640 piece of technology, why not do it? UM. Let's talk 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:34.240 a bit a little bit how it worked real quick. 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:37.520 It had a rubber hose meant to mimic a digestive canal. 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:39.920 And that's the important thing here because as it turns 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:43.000 out it is not really it's it's kind of like 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:47.920 a brilliant con way because it doesn't really digest food. 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:49.720 As far as we know, it's it's we we can't 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:52.160 really point to the duck today. The duck kind of 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:54.839 like disappeared a little throughout history and and a lot 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:58.679 of this is his guesswork. But but yeah, I mean, 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:01.280 the the hose was pretty importan because it was this 0:13:01.559 --> 0:13:05.280 um it was an illusion, and it was said that 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:07.600 you know that you would put the chemicals down the hose, 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:09.400 and then of course you can peek in and you 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:12.959 can see something that approximates basically a digestive system, right 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:16.199 the small intestine or you know, intestines in any case. 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:20.040 But it was kind of fascinating in that sense. But again, 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.280 this was just a bit of make believe magic here 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:25.679 going on. As far as we can tell. The food 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:27.599 or went into a slot in the base of the 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.480 neck basically and stopped there. And then the the the 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:36.160 duck excrement be it fake duck excrement, uh, you know, 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.720 concocted from you know, materials around the kitchen or actual 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:46.199 duck excrement. I don't know, but but that would have 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.199 have come from a different chamber. Yeah, that was actually 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.680 a secret compartment where that was coming from. And yeah, 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:54.280 and someone observed that the duck kible I guess you 0:13:54.320 --> 0:13:56.120 could call it, was getting stuck in the base of 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.080 the throat, so whatever came out on the other end 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.839 couldn't possibly be the same thing, right, So it's kind 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:07.320 of like a combination of magic trick and clockwork ingenuity. Yeah. Yeah, 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.120 and uh, if you're interested, there is a replica at 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.800 the Museum of Automatons in Grenoble, France, which I think 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:17.480 would be a fascinating museum to go to. And it's 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.000 really I mean, the the pooping duck has a pretty 0:14:20.040 --> 0:14:25.200 big reputation. UM recently came up in a Radio Lab episode. UM, 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.680 it has showed up as motifs in film and art, 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:33.080 and most notably in Thomas Pinchon's novel Mason and Dixon, 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:37.480 the duck comes alive and terrorizes a French chef with 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:42.760 his belt the beak of death. So, I mean, it's 0:14:42.800 --> 0:14:47.000 it's definitely captured people's imaginations. But having talked about that, 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.080 I think we need to return to what we tend 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.600 to return to all the time. I'm pretty happy to 0:14:52.640 --> 0:15:02.200 talk about it the Cloaca first, this break. This presentation 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:09.360 is brought to you by Intel sponsors of Tomorrow. Okay, 0:15:09.440 --> 0:15:12.640 the Kloeca shows up again and just you know, in 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:15.640 case you guys haven't checked out an other podcast about 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:21.760 dinosaurs having sex. I believe it's called tsur sex. Yeah, 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:25.120 the Kloeca is a sort of uh well, it's let 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:28.840 me put it this way. The Latin term means sewer, 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.160 so it kind of does double duty for everything, so 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.000 you can have sex, double duty, double duty, and you 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.400 can do your duty. It's the Yeah, it's it's the 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:41.720 naughty parts of of birds and and perhaps dinosaurs and 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:44.960 definitely the platypus. That was the other podcast that the 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.200 the Cloaca emerged from. Yeah, and as you can tell, 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:49.120 it always makes me uncomfortable because I say things like 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.960 you can have sex there. But it's important to to 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.240 bring up in this instance because there's something called the 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:01.400 Kloaca machine. Yes, and it's offying. It is terrifying, It 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.880 truly is, even though it's it's the most sterile contraption 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.280 ever made. It is uh has been created by Belgian 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.320 conceptual artists them Delvoy and it's a thirty nine foot 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.960 long machine. Yeah, and the pictures of it, it's like 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:16.840 it it looks like it's laid out on tables and 0:16:16.880 --> 0:16:20.280 it's in this big, barren room and it's just kind 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.440 of disturbing now, I mean looking at it and knowing 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:24.200 what it is. Well, I mean it could be an 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:28.080 autopsy room too, because it's so sterile. Uh. But the 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.000 idea is that it's meant to be housed in a 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.640 room sized installation of six glass containers connected to each 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.880 other with wires, tubes and pumps. And every day the 0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:38.920 machine receives a certain amount of food. This is from 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:42.560 art nett dot com. Meat, fish, vegetables, and pastries passed 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.400 through a giant blender and then we're mixed with water 0:16:45.480 --> 0:16:49.200 impoured into jars filled with acids and enzyme liquids. There 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:51.880 they got the same treatment that's the human stomach, and 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.880 electronic and a mechanical units controlled the process, and after 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:58.160 almost two days, the food came out of a filtering 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:02.400 unit as something close to genuine human scat. It was 0:17:02.480 --> 0:17:05.440 nourished by a first class chef who prepared two meals 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.560 a day in and detached kitchen. The atmosphere suggested a 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:11.640 hospital equipped for a strange experiment, the birth and care 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.520 of a machine that eats and defecates a mechanical baby. Hi, 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:19.159 it seems to say, I'm almost like you, well, I 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:22.199 don't know about that last part um, but no, no, 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.159 it does seem to drive home like two facts. A. 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:27.400 It definitely ties in with the whole idea of let's 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.439 make a machine that does what a human does, in 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:33.120 this case turning food and processing and turning into excrements. 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:36.560 And also there's this kind of it is kept, this 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:39.120 kind of frightening, the humanizing thing to it, like look 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:41.879 at this, this is what you basically are humans? Yeah, 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.040 the machine. In fact, that same article goes on to 0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:46.920 say that there was a little girl in the field 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:49.720 trip and she started crying at the side of it. 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:52.399 Whose idea for a field trip with this kid? Like, 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:54.600 all right, kids, we can either go to the zoo 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:56.960 or we can go see the robotic cloaca at the 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.920 art museum. Um. Yeah, and it really is awful when 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.359 you you should definitely look at some videos online of 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:07.240 it because the the end part, I suppose the anus 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.640 part is squirting it out almost like a pastry. But truly, 0:18:10.720 --> 0:18:14.440 this is this is a this is poop coming out 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:19.399 now it bags itself. It doesn't bag itself. Um, But 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.600 because that would be an awesome like innovation. But no, 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:24.239 I don't. I don't believe it does. But I know 0:18:24.359 --> 0:18:28.040 that on display they had dozens of vacuum packed Kloeca 0:18:28.240 --> 0:18:31.639 eliminations that were made during the five first exhibits of 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.280 the machine around the world, and there's apparently a waiting 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:36.760 list of collectors that are really eager to buy one 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.639 of those, especially the ones in the New York exhibition. 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:42.760 So it's pretty sought after stuff. This sounds it sounds 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:45.520 like a very kind of like turning the art wear 0:18:45.760 --> 0:18:48.960 world on its head. Its kind of a banks kind 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:51.760 of thing, like I'm going to create a machine that 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:55.160 creates poop and then I'm gonna sell it to art lovers. Yes, 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:59.199 right right, which the artist I mean, he loves this, right, 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.320 and we'll get to him in a second. Um. But 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:03.120 the matter is, just in case you're worried about hygen, 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:05.919 it's irradiated with gamma rays to kill the bacteria and 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:08.840 dried and vacuum packed, um. And then after that they're 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:12.760 packed air tight in a plexiglass box. So there you go. 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:15.800 There's the Chloaca machine. UM. And then the reaction. Of course, 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:18.320 I think the little girl starting to cry is pretty perfect. 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:21.080 But what they found is that when they compared the 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:25.320 human created excrement to the Chloaca machines excrement, it was 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:30.000 remarkably similar in bacterial content. UM. And the machine also 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:33.679 seemed to suffer from constipation and stomach upsets, caused in 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.880 part by the diet that was fed to it and 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:44.040 the different acids the ratio is used. Well, it's hard 0:19:44.080 --> 0:19:47.080 to follow that. UM. I mean just think good, it's 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.200 the thing that have teeth. But I do want to say, 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:54.560 just real quick, them delvoid the artist. He's completely obsessed 0:19:54.680 --> 0:19:58.680 with Pooh pursuits. Um. He created tiles that from far 0:19:58.720 --> 0:20:01.159 away looked like kind of like le Moorish tiles, but 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:02.920 when you get up close on them you realize that 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:08.960 it's like this curling figure and it's actually of his own. Uh. 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.160 I don't know if it's a painted on their orders 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:13.320 to photograph that's then put on there, but it's of 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.280 his own excrement. UM. And this is the same guy, 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.639 just just so you know, because obviously he's pretty much 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:22.320 proporcifal um. He had an x ray in which excuse me, 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:25.240 had an installation in which he X rayed people having 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:29.840 sex using sonograms. Um well, not having sex using sonograms, 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:32.439 but he used sonograms, mammograms, m r s, and X 0:20:32.520 --> 0:20:36.560 rays and then to film them having sex and I 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:39.119 mean very intimate. So that guy, because I think I've 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:41.000 I've run across that, but yeah, yeah, I mean we're 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:45.479 talking about very graphic intimate scenes here. And he turned 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:49.480 those into stained glass church windows and he was able 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.360 to capture the images by slathering the models with barium 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:56.320 powder mixed with nibia cream in order to eliminate illuminate 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:58.960 the bones during X raying. Well, I'm glad he's not. 0:20:59.040 --> 0:21:01.800 Everything he does is vow that's scatological. So it does 0:21:01.920 --> 0:21:03.600 make me wonder. I wonder if he has like what 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:06.000 if there's a reason for the fixation. I wonder if 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:09.919 he has digestion problem. Yeah, well, well I don't know, 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:12.480 because there's an interview in which he proclaims he's very 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:16.520 proud of his experiment and he proclaims his like the 0:21:16.560 --> 0:21:19.800 best smelling, the best formed, the best texture. It's like 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:22.919