1 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Our world is full of the unexplainable, and if history 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is an open book, all of these amazing tales are 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:14,680 Speaker 1: right there on display, just waiting for us to explore. 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:29,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. The cow had disappeared 5 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:34,240 Speaker 1: right before his eyes. It was March of and young 6 00:00:34,320 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 1: Amile for a dawn, was standing in the field that 7 00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: he worked with his father in the small village of 8 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: Glausel in central France. It was just by chance that 9 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: he'd been looking in the right direction at all. The 10 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: cow had been standing there one minute and next well, 11 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,559 Speaker 1: it was gone. Emil ran over to the spot where 12 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: the cow had vanished from and discovered the reason why. 13 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 1: There was a large hole in the ground. It had 14 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 1: chosen that very moment open wide and had dropped out 15 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:04,320 Speaker 1: beneath the cow like a trap door in a Scooby 16 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,840 Speaker 1: Doo cartoon. Of course, their first priority was to get 17 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:10,120 Speaker 1: the cow back out, and that took a bit of time. 18 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:13,039 Speaker 1: Cows are heavy, after all, and they have a tendency 19 00:01:13,080 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: to kick and fight. But they eventually managed to free 20 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: the fallen beast from the pit, and that's when they 21 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: got a good look at what was down there, and 22 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: it baffled them. They could see bricks. Neat tidy rows 23 00:01:25,959 --> 00:01:29,199 Speaker 1: of uniform bricks were visible in the soil and roots 24 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:32,360 Speaker 1: below the surface of the field, so Emil grabbed the 25 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: shovel and began to dig around them. Soon enough, he 26 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: and his father were standing in a small chamber with 27 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: walls of brick and tiled floor, and there were objects inside. 28 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: Word quickly spread. A local teacher visited the farm and 29 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: alerted the government to the discovery. Local scholars began to 30 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: flock to the farm for their chance in helping with 31 00:01:53,720 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: the excavation. Over the next five years, the dig site 32 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,760 Speaker 1: was extended, eventually revealing a number of chambers, each with 33 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: their own collection of artifacts. That's where things got strange. First, 34 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,919 Speaker 1: you have to remember that no one knew these chambers 35 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: were there in the field until the cow had fallen 36 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: through the ceiling of one of the rooms. But they 37 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,560 Speaker 1: were an odd collection of items that made that difficult 38 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: to believe. Yes, while some of the items in the 39 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 1: chamber dated back to the first century, others were much newer, 40 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 1: possibly as recent as the fifteenth century. There has been 41 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: a lot of controversy about the discovery over the years. 42 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 1: Emil was accused of forging the entire site, but that 43 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: claim was finally dismissed in court. More modern tools in 44 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: the last couple of decades have allowed scientists to determine 45 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: the true age of some of the oldest pottery there, 46 00:02:44,960 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 1: dating back roughly two thousand years. There are bone fragments 47 00:02:49,919 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 1: from the thirteenth century and ceramic tablets with Phoenician writing 48 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: on them. It's like a potpourri of archaeological clues, making 49 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:00,600 Speaker 1: it very difficult to nail down exactly when the chambers 50 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,160 Speaker 1: were built. And none of that even comes close to 51 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: the biggest question of all. Why Why was this set 52 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,799 Speaker 1: of chambers constructed? Why did someone want to gather up 53 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,400 Speaker 1: so many of these seemingly disparate items and store them 54 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 1: all in one place, And why were they hidden away, 55 00:03:18,639 --> 00:03:21,400 Speaker 1: buried beneath the surface of a field in the middle 56 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: of France. Nearly a century later. The answer is the 57 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: same as it's always been. We just don't know. They 58 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: built a machine that could play chess. Now I understand 59 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: that's not exactly earth shattering news. We live in an 60 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: era where Deep Blue from IBM and Alpha zero from 61 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: Deep Mind can be just about any opponent placed in 62 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: front of them clearly. Artificial intelligence has grown by leaps 63 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: and bounds, allowing us to pack more and more power 64 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: into the devices we use each day. But this wasn't 65 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: a sleek, modern processor fueled brain. It was a wooden 66 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:16,159 Speaker 1: box and a mechanical dummy. They called it the Turk, 67 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: and it was built in Vienna around seventeen seventy. Think 68 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: of it like a large wooden chest four ft long, 69 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: two ft wide and about three ft tall. Hefty for sure, 70 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:30,480 Speaker 1: but it served as a desk upon which a chessboard sat, 71 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: and behind that desk stood the Turk himself. Well him 72 00:04:35,920 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 1: might be stretching it. The Turk was a mechanical man, 73 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:41,880 Speaker 1: an automaton if you want to be technical about it, 74 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:46,000 Speaker 1: and this eighteenth century robot could play chess. The man 75 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: who invented it was Barren Wolfgang von Kemperlin, an inventor 76 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: from Hungary who was born in seventeen thirty four. Armed 77 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: with this amazing device, he traveled all across Europe, pitting 78 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,600 Speaker 1: his invention against the best chess players he could find. 79 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 1: He would begin each match by opening all of the 80 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: cabinet doors beneath the desktops, so everyone gathered could see 81 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: his brilliant mechanical engineering, firsthand gears and cogs and drums 82 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:16,239 Speaker 1: and levers, all of it served to power the Turk 83 00:05:16,400 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: as it picked up chess pieces and made move after 84 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,719 Speaker 1: move against the humans who chose to play it, and 85 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 1: most of the time the robot one. It said that 86 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:30,760 Speaker 1: the Turk defeated Napoleon, Benjamin Franklin, even Empress Catherine the 87 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,920 Speaker 1: First of Russia. It was so popular that after von 88 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: Kempelin died in eighteen o four, the Turk was sold 89 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: to a Bavarian musician who carried on the constant touring 90 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:45,920 Speaker 1: in the eighteen twenties. That tour included America. In fact, 91 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 1: the author Edgar Allen Poe watched one of these demonstrations 92 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:52,039 Speaker 1: himself in eighteen thirty six, and then went on to 93 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,719 Speaker 1: write an article about it in a periodical called The 94 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:58,720 Speaker 1: Southern Literary Messenger, which is ironic because just a few 95 00:05:58,800 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: years later the Turk would be purchased by Postoned physician 96 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: John Circely Mitchell. All told the Turk was a source 97 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,799 Speaker 1: of entertainment and delight for nearly seventy years and inspired 98 00:06:10,839 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: a lot of questions and a lot of wonder which 99 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,479 Speaker 1: I have to admit, is still pretty attractive today. The 100 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: fact that someone built a mechanical device over two d 101 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 1: and fifty years ago that could play chess and beat humans, well, 102 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:25,279 Speaker 1: it sounds like something out of a Jewels Verne novel, 103 00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: and yet it happened, well sort of. You see, there 104 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,800 Speaker 1: are enough drawings and firsthand accounts of how the device 105 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: operated to hint at the true power of the robot. 106 00:06:38,560 --> 00:06:41,080 Speaker 1: Thanks to magnets in the base of each chess piece 107 00:06:41,200 --> 00:06:44,359 Speaker 1: and corresponding metal balls in the inside surface of the 108 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: chess board, it was possible for a person to watch 109 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: the game unfold and then operate the robot like a 110 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:55,839 Speaker 1: puppet as the game moved along. Sadly, the Turk was 111 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: destroyed in a museum fire in July of eighteen fifty four. 112 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,840 Speaker 1: It and that happened the physical proof of its trickery 113 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: literally went up in smoke. Still, it's hard not to 114 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,800 Speaker 1: see our modern world reflected in that eighteenth century invention. 115 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: In the pursuit of progress and entertainment, we still try 116 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 1: our best to cram as much power as possible into 117 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: our devices. At least we've stopped using live humans to 118 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 1: do it. I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of 119 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: the Cabinet of Curiosities, subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, 120 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast 121 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky 122 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 1: in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award 123 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, 124 00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: and television show, and you can learn all about it 125 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: over at the World of Lore dot com. And until 126 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:55,800 Speaker 1: next time, stay curious.