This article (actually Ch. of a book) is pretty long so I've only posted the final section. The full article is here:
http://commons.somewhere.com/rre/2001/RRE.Machine.Dreams.html
What I've posted what are the final 1 1/2 printed pages of the article.
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Joseph Noonan Houston, TX jfn1 at msc.com
---------- Forwarded message ----------
VI. The New Automaton Theatre
Steven Millhauser has written a lovely story contained in his collection The Knife Thrower called "The New Automaton Theatre", a story which in many ways illustrates the story related in this volume. He imagines a town where the artful creation of lifelike miniature automata has been carried far beyond the original ambitions of Vaucanson's Duck or even Deep Blue -- the machine that defeated Gary Kasparov. These automata are not 'just' toys, but have become the repositories of meaning for the inhabitants of the town:
So pronounced is our devotion, which some call an obsession, that
common wisdom distinguishes four separate phases. In childhood we
are said to be attracted by the color and movement of these little
creatures, in adolescence by the intricate clockwork mechanisms that
give them the illusion of life, in adulthood by the truth and beauty
of the dramas they enact, and in old age by the timeless perfection
of an art that lifts us above the cares of mortality and gives
meaning to our lives... No one ever outgrows the automaton theatre.
Every so often in the history of the town there would appear a genius who excels at the art, capturing shades of human emotion never before inscribed in mechanism. Millhauser relates the story of one Heinrich Graum, who rapidly surpasses all others in the construction and staging of automata. Graum erects a Zaubertheatre where works of the most exquisite intricacies and uncanny intensity are displayed, which rival the masterpieces of the ages. In his early career Graum glided from one triumph to the next; but it was "as if his creatures strained at the very limits of the human, without leaving the human altogether; and the intensity of his figures seemed to promise some final vision, which we awaited with longing, and a little dread".
And then, at age thirty-six and without warning, Graum disbanded his Zaubertheatre and closed his workshop, embarking on a decade of total silence. Disappointment over this abrupt mute reproach eventually gave way to fascinations with other distractions and other artists in the town, although the memory of the old Zaubertheatre sometimes haunted apprentices and aesthetes alike. Life went on, and other stars of the Automata Theatre garnished attention and praise. Then after a long hiatus, and again without warning, Graum announced he would open a Neues Zaubertheatre in the town. The townsfolk had no clue what to expect from such an equally abrupt reappearance of a genius who had for all intents and purposes been relegated to history. The first performance of the Neues Zaubertheatre was a scandal, or as Millhauser puts it, "a knife flashed in the face of our art". Passionate disputes broke out over the seemliness or the legitimacy of such a new automaton theatre.
Those who do not share our love of the automaton theatre may find
our passions difficult to understand; but for us it was as if
everything had suddenly been thrown into question. Even we who have
been won over are disturbed by these performances, which trouble us
like forbidden pleasures, secret crimes... In one stroke his Neues
Zaubertheatre stood history on its head. The new automatons can
only be described as clumsy. By this I mean that the smoothness
of motion so characteristic of our classic figures has been replaced
by the jerky abrupt motions of amateur automatons.... They do not
strike us as human. Indeed it must be said that the new automatons
strike us first of all as automatons... In the classic automaton
theatre we are asked to share the emotions of human beings, whom in
reality we know to be miniature automatons. In the new automaton
theatre we are asked to share the emotions of the automatons
themselves... They live lives that are parallel to ours, but
are not to be confused with ours. Their struggles are clockwork
struggles, their suffering is the suffering of automatons.
Although the townsfolk publicly rushed to denounce the new theatre, over time they found themselves growing impatient and distracted with the older mimetic art. Many experience tortured ambivalence as they sneak off to view the latest production of the Neues Zaubertheatre. What was once an affront imperceptibly became a point of universal reference. The new theatre slowly and inexorably insinuates itself into the very consciousness of the town.
It has become a standard practice in modern academic books to provide the impatient modern reader with a quick outline of the argument of the entire book in the first chapter, providing the analogue of fast food for the marketplace of ideas. Here, Millhauser's story can be dragooned for that purpose. In sum, the story of this book is the story of the New Automaton Theatre: the town is the American profession of academic economics, the classic automaton theatre is neoclassical economic theory, and the Neues Zaubertheatre is the introduction of the cyborg sciences into economics. And Hienrich Graum -- well, Graum is John von Neumann. The only thing missing from Millhauser's parable would a proviso where the military would have acted to fund and manage the apprenticeships and workshops of the masters of automata, and Graum's revival stage-managed at their behest.
end