The Chess Machine

The ghost in the chess machine
Reviewed by David Hellman
Sunday, July 22, 2007

The Chess Machine
By Robert Löhr,
translated by Anthea Bell
THE PENGUIN PRESS; 344 PAGES; $24.95

Homo faber, man the maker. From the invention of the wheel to the glory and nightmare of today’s technology, humans have been artificers. In this role of creator, humanity has both usurped and magnified the role of God in the world. In other words, technology has always had the dual function of revealing the pragmatic abilities of mortal humans, while at the same time reaching beyond mortality into the realm of magic and spirit.

The most poignant example of this today is how most of us relate and depend on computers without really understanding how these machines do what they do. Computers are essentially artifacts of faith, in that we have to trust them to do what we want them to do without an understanding of the inherent technology working behind the scenes.

This battle of creator and machine, in which humans (and God) can play either role, has a long literary history. The great medieval paradigm was the Jewish golem, followed later by Mary Shelley’s monster. In science fiction there is almost a surplus of examples, the most memorable of which is possibly Arthur C. Clarke’s computer Hal 9000.

But history also offers interesting, if often forgotten, models for this relationship between spirit and mechanization. In 1770, Austrian-Hungarian Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen unveiled to Empress Maria Theresa and her court a device called the Turk, an automaton with a humanoid appearance, which seemingly could play a game of chess without human assistance, and usually win against its mortal competition. This was a time when Europe was under the spell of automata in general, but the Turk was different in that it appeared to think on its own. The Turk had a long and illustrious career, and it was not until many years after the death of its creator that its secret was revealed. This mechanical mystery is the basis for Robert Löhr’s compelling yet not entirely satisfying first novel, “The Chess Machine.”

Here is the full review.