Of Writing Machines and Scholar-Gipsies

This week's reading, Of Writing Machines and Scholar-Gipsies, introduced me to Jacques de Vaucanson, and his automatons, such as the mechanical digesting duck and flute player. When I clicked on a link to get more information about "automaton" in Wikipedia, I was presented with a list going back to the Hellenistic world. I enjoyed getting this perspective and learning that even in 150-100 BC there were complex devices such as the Antikythera mechanism, which was used to calculate astronomical positions. This device, at least according to Wikipedia, has been described as the first mechanical computer.