YouSaid · the spoken record

David Levy

lines on the record: 54
first: 2018-11-19
most recent: 2018-11-19
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“There were a lot of these in myth. The god animated this bronze statue with intelligence, and the scrap says he endowed it with powerful substances beneficial to mankind. That's the end of the scrap. We don't know any more, but that just seems so heartening because I think in the Asilomar conference of 2017, one of the rules that the AI thinkers came up with is that AI should be beneficial. To humankind”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You know, recently someone asked me if there's a figure from Greek mythology that sort of evokes the conscientious technology engineer or person who's striving to use AI for the betterment of humanity. And so what it made me think of was a recently discovered papyrus that has a fragment of an unknown myth about Hephaestus.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That will never be able to resist trying to imitate life. You've all Harari has pointed out that history kind of began when humans created gods, but history will end when humans become gods. He's also pointed out the relationship between totalitarianism and automation and AI.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The deep roots show us that there's always been a connection between mythology and imagination and science and the fact that its roots are so deep, I think, tells us something about human nature that we should pay attention to.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“how them That's why these carts were so heavy and had to be pulled by so many men. So the tank of milk would be hidden. And how do you get that much milk? People have tried to figure out how the statue worked. It had to be robust enough to allow her to stand and pour and sit down in a stately manner as befitting a goddess. It couldn't be jerky or awkward in any way.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because they were so heavy, they were probably not constructed of metal or bronze, perhaps some gold plating, but they were probably constructed of wood and plaster. She was ten feet tall. She periodically along the route stood up and poured from the jug into the bowl actual milk, which overflowed onto the root. So people could see that it was actually milk. And then she would sit down again. Now, this has to be a very robust mechanism for her to stand.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was to show the incredible, almost supernatural and divinely inspired power of Ptolemy Philadelphus. They were really spectacular. I'm sure that they caused a sensation of the uncanny valley effect among the observers along the route. These floats were pulled by sometimes 600 men that were so heavy. On top of these carts were gigantic, self moving statues of gods. One of them was of Dionysus, and right behind Dionysus came a statue of the goddess Nysa, who had been the nursemaid of Dionysus, and she was seated on a throne dressed in yellow silk, and she was holding a jug of milk and a bowl.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Ptolemy II, Philadelphus of Alexandria, was an extremely powerful monarch. He lived in Alexandria, which was the hub, the center of innovation and engineering inventions, where craftsmen and brilliant engineers were actually creating genuine self-moving devices and automatons. And many of them, many of the most spectacular ones, were displayed in the grand procession of Ptolemy Philadelphus. And this grand procession went on for days. It covered many miles. It was a parade of essentially floats that were”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes. And remember that catapult, torsion catapults had been invented by this time. So some of the same mechanisms probably were being used in a smaller scale for this evil robot. And he worked the levers and springs in the back and caused her arms to draw the victim closer and tighter with a ratcheting sort of effect. And increasing the pressure. And the most diabolical detail is that under the finery her entire body was studded with nails. So she was an earliest version of an iron maiden, but she was robotic, the iron maiden was not. He increased the pressure. So it was a torture device.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, as someone has recreated this, you can find it on YouTube, a Polish engineer. So he created this fake a pega who could move. He would invite citizens in and ply them with wine and try to persuade them to turn over their property to him. And if they refused, he would say, well, perhaps my queen Apega will be more persuasive. And he would take them to meet Ape. And as they went forward toward Apega who was seated on a throne, and they reached out their hand, she suddenly stood up and clasped them to her body.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One of his great ideas was to have some engineers create a robot in the shape of his Queen A Pega. It looked just like her. It maybe even had a wax face that was cast from her face. And he dressed it in her finery.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I can tell you about some benign robots and some evil robots. Okay, let's get both. They were actually designed and manufactured in antiquity. The king of Sparta Nabus came to power in the 200s in Sparta. It was a very harsh dictator. He was widely detested and he ended up being assassinated in 192 BC. He and his wife ruled with an iron hand and their reign was long remembered for extortion and actually torture and mass killings of citizens of Sparta and the surrounding territories. Many historians said that his”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The very first automaton that could fly was created by a friend of Plato named Architas. He was just a polymath, a brilliant inventor, engineer, and a general, and he created an artificial bird in the shape of a dove that could fly several yards. It had to be reset after it flew, but this was a rather amazing invention. It caused a big sensation. Modern engineers are fascinated by this historical incident so early, fourth century BC, and they guessed that it was probably steam driven by captured steam. We have only a small fraction of what was written down in classical antiquity. What we have just shows the tip of the iceberg of real inventions.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, that works very well. The first surface to air missiles that were built after World War II were called Talos. Talos missiles were placed on ships and they patrolled the seas. Very similar function to ancient tallos.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, in antiquity, there certainly was technology. The use of robots and self-moving devices by autocrats in myths was echoed in real life. There are many instances of real kings with absolute power who deployed automatons and animated statues, not just to aggrandize their power, but to actually kill masses of people. Artisans and craftsmen and sculptors and engineers offered their services to autocrats because they knew they would be rewarded. Those autocrats and monarchs held contests to find new innovations in military machines. That's how the first catapult was invented for a Dionysus I. It makes me think about how DARPA Holds contests for various things. And incidentally, DARPA is currently working on an automated Exoskeleton that will have AI capabilities for soldiers, and they deliberately came up with the acronym TALES.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's a way to amplify your power. And so we have Zeus, who is the all-powerful God. He's the Lord of gods and men. And he commands Hephaestus, forces Hephaestus, sometimes against his will, we hear, to create these. A killer robot for Minos on Crete, an evil fembot Pandora to devastate humankind, and then we hear about kings in myth who own a pair of robotic fire-breathing bulls that would kill anyone who came near them or can deploy an automaton army that can't be stopped. So kings are very interested in having these automated animated statues and various robots.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And yet, in one remarkable passage, Aristotle starts to muse on the old myths of Hephaestus making these golden women to help him in his shop and the travelling carts that fed the gods and then returned, and a bank of bellows for his forge that actually could adjust their blast according to his needs. Aristotle mentions all those, and then he sort of throws out a thought experiment. Well, if we had such things today in our real life, if we had looms that could weave by themselves or musical instruments that could play themselves, there would be no need for slavery, and if only he had gone on with that thought, but he didn't. He stopped right there as seems to be something that occurred to him, and then he moves on.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One reason I wrote this book is to point out that these stories are kind of a mythology for the age of AI. And I think it's interesting that in antiquity, these myths were about robots and automatons and self-moving devices and even AI were good to think with, even for philosophers. So we have Aristotle who actually defended the practice of slavery in Athens, ancient Athens.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I thought it was very interesting when you talk about the Aristotle sense of the consequences of the economic consequences of these inanimate instruments and things that do labor for us. Can you talk us through a little bit about how Aristotle was thinking about those consequences?”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm gonna. Basically, what's really important today is whether One is going to be a Promethean or an Epimethean when considering AI and advances in technology. Foresight is really important, but we tend to be more like Epimetheus and going for the short-term gates.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And he is dazzled by the short term gains. The beauty of this ravishing artificial woman, and Hesiod, the ancient poet who tells us this story in about seven hundred BC, says that Epimetheus only realized his mistake later. But Prometheus attempts or her dowry, which is that sealed box Epimetheus says, Yeah, but she's beautiful and”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“When people talk about AI and robotics today, sooner or later somebody talks about or brings up Pandora's box. And that's very appropriate because we can think of all of the advances in technology and AI and robotics as a kind of Pandora's box that we're opening. But the original story was rather different. Pandora comes down to Earth. She is escorted to Earth by Zeus's messenger Hermes. And Hermes takes Pandora to Prometheus' brother, Epimetheus. Now their names are very interesting. Prometheus means foresight looking ahead in Greek. Epimetheus, he's a cheerful sort of happy-go-lucky guy. He's the perfect patsy. His name means hindsight or lack of foresight.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Originally, it was a jar, but throughout the ages, it became a box through a mistranslation in the 1500s, something like that. But it was a jar that she opened and released all the miseries and sufferings.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Festus to make an artificial woman that he would send down to earth to bring ruination to all humankind. And Hephaestus created Pandora, who was once again made not born, she had no childhood, no memories, no parents, no emotions. She was programmed with one task only. She was sent to earth with a sealed jar or box that contained every human misery and all the suffering of humankind. Her only task on earth was to insinuate herself into human society and open that box. We never hear from her again. She completed her task on earth.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, but when Hephaestus made things that would be sent to earth, that's when problems arise. There was another entity that Hephaestus was commanded to make by Zeus, and that is Pandora. Now Zeus was very angry about humans receiving the secret of fire from the Titan Prometheus. As we all know, he punished Prometheus by chaining him to a mountaintop and Hephaestus forged a bronze eagle to come like a drone at the same time every day and peck out the liver of Prometheus. That was the punishment for stealing fire from the gods and giving this very important technology to humans. But Zeus also created a very merciless punishment for humans for accepting that gift of fire. Zeus commanded”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, I think so. They're lifelike? They are self-moving. They anticipate his needs, and they have a huge wealth of information stored inside them just in case it might be necessary. So essentially they are the first AI entities in Western literature. And it was Homer who describes these. What's interesting about Hephaestus' marvels and inventions is that they were almost all created for the benefit of the gods in the heavens.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And not only did he invent the first automatic garage doors for heaven, he also invented a staff of golden women who looked like real women in every way, but they were made of gold, and they were endowed with strength and intelligence, and he then bestowed upon them all the knowledge of the gods. This is essentially a data dump of information they don't really need, but who knows? They might need it in helping him.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Thought of that, I love it. No, it's true, right? She's hacking the system. Let's talk a little bit about Hephaestus, this amazing god of invention, because Tallus was not his only invention. He had a huge range, and that range shows quite a bit of all the different ways that the ancient Greeks were thinking about invention, technology, and creation. What were some of the other tools and inventions that Hephaestus was known for creating”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“She I like to call Medea a techno wizard because she seems to be able to figure these things out by thinking about the programming and the systems of these inventions of the god Hephaestus, and she's able to destroy them by using their technology, turning their technology against them so you could call her the first hacker. I hadn't thought of that. I love it. No, it's true, right? She's hacking the hand.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And the blows on their shields trigger their attack programming, and they begin attacking the soldier nearest them, their own companions. And they feel the blows on their shields and begin to attack each other, hacking at each other with their own swords. Jason and his men can now rush in and finish them off. This story really has a lesson about cyborg soldiers and issues of command and control.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No one can forget if they've ever seen it, these skeleton soldiers, armed with swords, popping up out of these ploughed furrows, and their unstoppable and their multiplying, and they are programmed, so to speak, with one task to go forward and attack. That is all they can do. They cannot be led, they cannot retreat, and their orders can't be changed So, Medea figures out how to trigger their programming to destroy them. She advises Jason to throw rocks into their midst.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“There's another very interesting story in the epic saga of Jason and the Argonauts, in which Medea was involved again in helping Jason figure out how to deal with another kind of robotic juggernaut that he had to face. Medea's father, the king of Colquis, imposed an impossible task on Jason before he could get the Golden Fleece. He had to yoke a pair of fire-breathing Now the king thought that Jason would be killed, burned up by these robot bulls, but Jason was able to yoke them, so the king imposed another task. You need to plough a field, and you need to plant dragon teeth, which will immediately grow into an automaton army. Many people remember this scene from the cult movie, Jason and the Argonauts from 1963. It was.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, yes, as today, it was then also an ambivalence, a sort of mixture of dread and awe, but also a kind of pity for the robot who was simply going about his assigned job and was taken in by a trick. There are some ancient vase paintings that show Talos being destroyed and he's falling backwards and you can see the rivets and the seams of this bronze giant. And yet there is a tear falling from his eye. So in antiquity people did feel sympathy for this rope.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I also think it's really interesting that you see these glimmers of wrestling with issues around command and control, right? Like that this is a robot who has been programmed to do a certain kind of protection, but anxiety we cannot control.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Medea suspected that this bronze man might have human emotions and she played upon those and exploited them. The other interesting message from the story of Talos is that he was a product of technology carrying out his duties, but he was destroyed by technology too.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, and today, a lot of social scientists and psychologists try to understand why do we tend to humanize robots and AI and automatons. We tend to can't help it. I know. We tend to bestow life and desires and human emotions to them, even though intellectually we know it's not true. Well, that was true in antiquity too.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So the thing that stands out to me in that is this wrestling with this idea of like a creature created for service to humans, but that sort of on this blurry line of sentience and not sentience, right? Which is something that persists with us today, right? Our anxiety around this sentience or not.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is another very technological image. The other interesting thing to me is that there are at least two ancient vase paintings from about four hundred fifty BC that show Jason Amedea using a tool to release that bolt on his ankle.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He has a desire to live forever. He doesn't want to be destroyed. And that is his downfall. He agrees to allow Medea and Jason to remove that bolt from his ankle. And the myth says the Ikor poured out like molten metal.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Media, who was a sorceress, was accompanying Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece, figures out how to destroy Tallows before he can kill them. She says, we don't know if he's immortal, but we do know that his entire system is sealed by that bronze bould on his ankle. Let me see if I can persuade him to allow us to remove the bolt. And she uses her powers of persuasion on this giant bronze robot, and here's where we know that he has some human features of sentience, that he has emotions. She tells him that she can make him immortal, and he wants to become immortal.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Tell us can be defined as an ancient robot because of his source of power. Hephaestus created him of bronze he was hollow, but he had a single artery that went from his head down to his feet, and in that artery pulsed not blood but icor which was the fluid of the gods which made them immortal. And the entire vivicystem, if you will, was sealed with a bronze bolt on his ankle. So he is a product of technology. The definition is really clear that he was constructed by a god of technology and innovation.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He's a guardian of Crete, and he is somehow aware of his surroundings. He can spot approaching ships, and then he can decide to take action. Ancient coins of Crete depict Talos as a giant man hurling boulders, carrying out his job in the ancient epoch of Jason and the Argonauts, Jason and his sailors almost became victims of Telus. So the story of Telos was also told by Apollonius of Rhodes.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We actually have his internal workings described. Tell us his job was to notice ships that were approaching Crete, strange ships, pirates, or other invaders, he would then grab boulders and hurl these boulders at the ships to destroy the ships, but in close combat, should anyone come ashore, Telos had yet another capability, which was to heat his body red hot. He's made of bronze. He's able to heat his body until it was red hot, grab up a victim, and crush them to his chest, and roast them alive. This is a horrible way to go.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The very first robot to walk the earth. Story of Talos is very ancient indeed. It goes back to Hesiod and Homer who lived in the period of seven fifty to six hundred fifty BC. So we're talking about an extremely ancient imagining of a robot made of bronze set to work on Earth. He was created by the god Hephaestus for Zeus to give to his son King Minos to protect Minos' kingdom of Crete. He was able to march around the island of Crete three times a day. Some people have estimated that he went maybe five hundred miles an hour.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Exactly. And these entities that were made not born, they were made by a process that the Greeks would call biotechn, which means life through craft. And it is the root of our word biotechnology. So what we're looking at are ancient myths imagining automatons and self-moving devices created using biotechn or an ancient version of biotechnology.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Many ancient cultures have stories and tales and myths about lifeless entities brought to life magically by a god or a magician's spell, and instead of inert things brought to life by magic or the command of a god, I'm looking for myths and stories and ancient accounts of automatons and self-moving devices that were technological products. Hephaestus used the same tools and implements and materials that an ordinary blacksmith used. But of course he had awesome abilities and his products of technology were spectacular. What you would expect of a god.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Robot, even today that's a very slippery term. There are many different definitions floating around usually means a machine or some kind of self-moving entity or self-moving device or automatic device that has some sort of power source.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“An adult adult preceded the bow and arrow. It was a device that held a spear stable, and then you could throw the spear using this device, it would go much further and much straighter. I guess the principle today would be those devices that you use to throw balls for your dog at the range.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Basically, essential definitions that can be accepted now, and we can apply back to antiquity to the myths and then to inventions beginning the 4th century BC. A machine is essentially a device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. So a machine, the very earliest machines, humans always had a desire to make machines, to enhance their own abilities and powers. an adolatal or the first bow and arrow, those are essentially machines.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“These were tripods on wheels that would deliver ambrosia and nectar to the gods' feasts and then return automatically to him when they were empty. All these devices were described by Homer. This is 2,500 years ago or more. We're hearing about ancient Greeks imagining self-moving devices and automatons.”
2018-11-19 · a16z Podcast · a16z Podcast: Ancient Dreams of Technology, Gods & Robots · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source