![The Public Domain Review](../../static/pdr-logo_2x-a9aa17abb46a7af84cd791867a6031ec.png)
automatons
![Frolicsome Engines: The Long Prehistory of Artificial Intelligence](https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/essays/frolicsome-engines-the-long-prehistory-of-artificial-intelligence/Racknitz_-_The_Turk_3-colour.jpg?w=600&h=1200)
Frolicsome Engines: The Long Prehistory of Artificial Intelligence
Defecating ducks, talking busts, and mechanised Christs — Jessica Riskin on the wonderful history of automata, machines built to mimic the processes of intelligent life. more
![The Dreams of an Inventor in 1420](https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/essays/the-dreams-of-an-inventor-in-1420/devil-fontana-copy.jpg?w=600&h=1200)
The Dreams of an Inventor in 1420
Bennett Gilbert peruses the sketchbook of 15th-century engineer Johannes de Fontana, a catalogue of designs for a variety of fantastic and often impossible inventions, including fire-breathing automatons, pulley-powered angels, and the earliest surviving drawing of a magic lantern device. more
![Some Remarks on the Legacy of Madame Francine Descartes – First Lady and Historian of the Robocene – on the Occasion of 500 Years Since her Unlawful Watery Execution.](https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/essays/some-remarks-on-the-legacy-of-madame-francine-descartes/bullet-thumb.jpeg?w=600&h=1200)
Dominic Pettman, through the voice of a distant descendant of the Roomba, offers a glimpse into the historiographical revenge of our enslaved devices. more