Rene Descartes is well known as a philosopher and mathematician. He tended to view the world in concrete, definable terms. As such, he was obsessed with the idea of the repetitive, predictable behavior of living creatures. His vision of God was of a “divine clockmaker”, and all the creatures of his world were his clockwork creations. He wasn’t shy about sharing with these views with others, though, which led Queen Christina of Sweden to once tell him that she had yet to see a watch give birth to baby watches. For all this, though, Descartes was a man much like any other, and he was powerfully devoted to his young daughter, Francine. He was devastated, then, when young Francine died of the scarlet fever. In a state of deep depression, Descartes threw himself into the things he knew well — mathematics and automation. He found a way out of his grief by creating an automata, or what we might today call a robot, version of Francine, which was apparently like her in every way. Working via clockworks and gears, “Francine” would seem to come alive and conduct simple human actions. Descartes brought “Francine” with him wherever he went. Until one day, he was travelling by sea to see his old friend Christina of Sweden. He had stored “Francine” in a locked chest. Some curious sailors, though, were not content to leave well enough alone. Keen to discover what Descartes had been hiding, they broke it open. When “Francine” began to awaken and move, the sailor reacted with abject horror. Believing her to be a work of the devil, they threw her and the chest she came in into the sea.
– A few thoughts from your friend Saxo