The Ultimate (do nothing) machine

cs4fn issues, electronics, Issue 28 - Cunning Computational Contraptions, Robotics 1 Minute
A black box with an on-off switch at ON. The top flips open and a robotivc finger pokes out to push the switch back to OFF.
This ultimate machine is a commercially produced version of Minsky’s idea. Image by Drpixie from Wikimedia CC-BY-SA-4.0

In 1952 computer scientist and playful inventor, Marvin Minsky, designed a machine which did one thing, and one thing only. It switched itself off. It was just a box with a motor, switch and something to flip (toggle) the switch off again after someone turned it on. Science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke thought there was something ‘unspeakably sinister’ about a machine that exists just to switch itself off and hobbyist makers continue to create their own variations today.

Jo Brodie, Queen Mary University of London

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This blog is funded by EPSRC on research agreement EP/W033615/1.

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This article was funded by UKRI, through Professor Ursula Martin’s grant EP/K040251/2 and grant EP/W033615/1.

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Published by Paul Curzon

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