Ernie SmithJun 18
Hi all, back at my @tedium commissioned search thing. I ran into some serious writer’s block with this one, but worked my way through it. This one comes from Olivier Mével of the company multiplé. (thread)
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18

This one was very difficult for me, in part because it has been written about heavily in the modern day. This may not have been the best question for this format—but I made it work.

(As a reminder, sources may be included in the alt-text of images for space and flow reasons.)

Show threadErnie Smith
So, as you may or may not be aware, one of the most popular AI models is Anthropic’s Claude. If you’re into LLMs, it’s generally considered one of the best models for coding.
Jun 18 at 3:16pmWeb
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Claude is a very unusual name in 2025, which makes the branding stand out. But there’s a reason for it. See, it’s named for Claude Shannon, a legend in the field of information theory.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18

In the years before the device’s invention, Shannon became known for his interest in chess-playing machines, even writing an article for Scientific American about them in 1950.

https://www.paradise.caltech.edu/ist4/lectures/shannonchess1950.pdf

Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Shannon was a fun guy. Despite being a bigwig at Bell Labs, he would often ride a unicycle through the office. He also was famed for juggling.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Shannon didn’t invent the Useless Machine, as it came to be called, but it was built from one of his first interactions with a fellow AI legend, Marvin Minsky.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Minsky, a Princeton grad student who worked at Bell Labs during the summer of 1952, would later go on to found MIT’s AI labs.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18

While there, Minsky developed a variety of machines—facilitated by a budding relationship with Shannon. “We hit it off because both Shannon and I were addicted to making interesting new mechanical devices,” Minsky said in an oral history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujtDHXnMQI4

Marvin Minsky - Why I got on so well with Claude Shannon (125/151)

YouTube
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18

Sounds like a pretty great internship. During that same oral history, he described the exact process of developing the machine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8kU3oZwVJA

Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
But to be clear, while Minsky developed the concept, he was doing so in close association with a kindred spirit, Shannon. They called this unusual device the “Ultimate Machine”—though the name didn’t stick.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Minsky developed the idea; Shannon, who had access to a machine shop, turned it into an actual device. His collected papers make clear this was a regular activity for him.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
This machine likely would have gone unnoticed, if not for Arthur C. Clarke, who did a tour of Bell Labs’ various inventions. He found this particular one epic. His immortal words, as published in Harper’s Magazine in 1958:
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
If you want to read the passage in full context, “Voice Across the Sea” is on the Internet Archive, in a chapter titled The Dream Factory: https://archive.org/details/voiceacrosssea0000arth/page/148/mode/2up
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
The piece is notable because it highlights the climate that created it. Also mentioned in the piece is Shannon’s electronic mouse, and the maze he created for it.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Clarke was absolutely the right person to write about this. One sample passage:
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Back to the Useless Machine. The simplicity of its design is such that you can find these devices pretty much anywhere online. Amazon sells hundreds of these. https://amzn.to/4lfBWX2
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Who was first? The answer appears to be Spencer Gifts, the famed mall chain that started as a mail-order goods store. I found an example, sold as a “Little Black Box” in a 1959 issue of Flower and Garden Magazine.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
This exact device, with no changes, was sold by Captain Company in an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland in 1962, surrounded by dozens of similar gimmicks.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
(It makes sense Spencer Gifts sold it, by the way. My Amazon search for a useless machine also brought up fake poo, which is a pretty good signifier of the kind of crowds this device runs with.)
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18

Spencer Gifts later sold a variant that actually made the useless device useful—it turned the device into a bank that grabbed your quarters and stored them.

Not bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqeG5gHD_98

Thing Black Box Money Trap Coin Snatching Prop #halloween

YouTube
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Was there any prior art? This was the part that kind of held me up. I went a lot of directions with this, looking closely at machines with auto-off functions. I ultimately leaned into the work of Bruno Munari.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
Munari, an Italian artist whose anti-tech POV would fit in great on Bluesky, doesn’t appear to have made any switches that turned themselves off. But he did make lots of useless machines.
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJun 18
@ernie Yes, that's the kind they used in The Prisoner. It depended on a metal object to complete the circuit for a trigger. I frequently saw those in stores. If you watch that episode closely, when Pat puts in the token, it doesn't seat properly at first so he wiggles it a bit so that the unit triggers.
Show threadslashJun 18
@lauren @ernie Damn. I'd forgotten about those. Now I have to own one.
Show threadPaula GordonJun 18
@ernie My uncle, the late Arnold Freed, had a novelty business, and he made a piggy-bank gadget like this. It was a coffin and a skeletal hand would come out to pull the coin into a slot. The box was decorated with the words, "You CAN take it with you!" I have lately tried to find images of it (we had one, long gone), but have not been successful so far. Would have been 1970s. He marked everything with "A. Freed Novelty, Inc." (Mostly you'll find his "crooked" card deck and some adult toys.)
Show threadPaula GordonJun 18
@ernie
Or actually, maybe I'm misremembering and it was one of these: https://www.unclealstoys.com/product/vintage-yone-skeleton-coffin-coin-bank-wind-up-toy-original-box/
Because now I recall the text was as written here, "You can't take it with you, but you can TRY." Hmm.
Could be that I associated this with him because of all the other weird stuff he would give us, e.g., Candy-coated cockroaches (almonds), Parking Meter for the John (plunger w/kitchen-timer-like contraption on top)...
Vintage Yone SKELETON COFFIN COIN BANK Wind Up Toy

Discover the charm of the Vintage Yone Skeleton Coffin Coin Bank Wind Up toy. This unique wind-up toy combines nostalgia with functionality.

Uncle Al's Toys
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJun 18
@ernie AND, it provided the entrance authorization to the Town Council building in "The Prisoner"!
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJun 18
@ernie Many years ago I had a private meeting here in L.A. with only myself, Marvin Minsky (MIT AI) and John McCarthy (Stanford AI) in attendance. An interesting day.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
@lauren Whoa, I can only imagine how that discussion went.
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJun 18
@ernie In all honesty the details are something of a blur now. It took place in the Culver City offices of Triple-I.
Show threadLauren WeinsteinJun 18
@ernie Have you ever read Edgar Allan Poe's piece on the Mechanical Turk? It's really excellent.
Show threadErnie SmithJun 18
@lauren The Mechanical Turk concept has always fascinated me.