Moxon's Master
Encyclopedia
"Moxon's Master" is a short story
by the late 19th century American author Ambrose Bierce
that speculates on the nature of life
and intelligence. It describes a chess
-playing robot
automaton
that murders its creator. Published in 1909, it is one of the first descriptions of a robot in English literature
.
Shortly after the narrator returns to Moxon's in order to learn more. He enters the house and heads toward the machine room, where he finds Moxon playing a chess game with the automaton. Moxon wins the game, and the automaton kills him in an apparent fit of rage. The narrator later questions whether what he saw was real, although he does not directly deny it.
Real or hoax chess-playing automatons:
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by the late 19th century American author Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist...
that speculates on the nature of life
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...
and intelligence. It describes a chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
-playing robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
automaton
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
that murders its creator. Published in 1909, it is one of the first descriptions of a robot in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
.
Plot summary
In the story, the master, Moxon, holds a conversation with the unnamed narrator. After a thorough discussion about what it is to be "thinking" and "intelligent", the unnamed narrator leaves. At this point the narrator is not aware of the existence of the robot.Shortly after the narrator returns to Moxon's in order to learn more. He enters the house and heads toward the machine room, where he finds Moxon playing a chess game with the automaton. Moxon wins the game, and the automaton kills him in an apparent fit of rage. The narrator later questions whether what he saw was real, although he does not directly deny it.
See also
- List of fictional robots and androids
- Chess-related deathsChess-related deathsAs with most games that have a long history, chess has been associated with a number of anecdotes, and some relate to games that have resulted in the death of one of the players involved...
Real or hoax chess-playing automatons:
- The TurkThe TurkThe Turk, also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player , was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854, it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton, though it was exposed in the early 1820s as an...
- Walker Chess-playerWalker Chess-playerThe Walker Chess-player was a chess-playing "machine" created by the Walker Brothers of Baltimore, Maryland. The machine was produced in the 1820s to compete with The Turk, a world famous chess "machine"...