Defecating ducks, talking busts, and mechanised Christs — Jessica Riskin on the wonderful history of automata, machines built to mimic the processes of intelligent life.
![Illustration 55 (86) , from: Kalila wa-Dimna - BSB Cod.arab. 616 ( um 1310) - Digitised Book from the copyright-free holdings of the Bavarian State Library Munich [Germany] 2007-2024 Image-based Similarity Search](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/5e/f5/635ef5db9eb50ba7b3b9dab66dd83bd7.jpg)
