Robots, Artificial Life and Technology Imagined by the Ancients with Adrienne Mayor

Adrienne Mayor is an author and historian of ancient science and human curiosity. She is a research scholar at Stanford University who investigates natural knowledge contained in pre-scientific myths and traditions. In this podcast Adrienne Mayor discusses the fascinating research that she presents in her book "Gods and Robots: Myths, Machines and Ancient Dreams of Technology". This is a captivating account of the earliest expressions of the enduring urge to create machines that imitate life. Adrienne Mayor presents ancient Greek, Roman, Indian and Chinese myths and traditions that envisioned artificial life, robots and self moving contraptions. It is interesting to observe that some of today's most advanced innovations in robotics and artificial intelligence were envisaged and imagined in ancient myths and traditions. After discussing a number of myths and traditions, Adrienne Mayor presents stories of a number of real machines and innovations that were developed long before the age of modern science and technology. This book is an account of ingenuity and creativity, and that how science has always been driven by imagination.