One of the things steampunks love is the sense of amazingly intricate (and highly improbable) technology combined with craftsmanship. Victorian times deliver time and time again with real inventions that are hardly believable (like the steam man of last Sunday’s entry).
Not to be outdone, pre-Victorian times brim with inventions that are, if anything, even more beautiful and even less plausible.
Like this doll – that has been described as the first computer because it could write ANY MESSAGE you gave it. And I do mean “write” – with its hands. Not bad for a watchmaker’s promotional tool dating from 1774!
It had over 6,000 moving pieces. . . and it still works.
Read more – and watch the video – in a robot article on cracked. Believe me when I say this is just the beginning.