A nice, gentle reminder that technology doesn't have to detract from the more mystical elements of life.
On a shelf at the far end of the store, we discovered a box of dozens of eyes in assorted sizes made from a dark, hazy glass. After much sorting and searching, we found three sets of eyes that had the personality we were after: not quite lifelike but having the quality of, dare I say it, a soul. There was also something sad and disquieting about them. Life seemed possible within them, even though I knew rationally they were just pieces of coloured glass.
On the drive back to her workshop, I asked Nico—one of the few and foremost horologists who repairs and restores antique automata—what she understands about this impulse to create life, or the semblance of life, and why it also threatens our sense of stability. For her, it presents itself as a series of questions: “What are the creative capacities in human beings versus God? What is it to be a part of a spiritual realm?” She explained, “If we can imagine it, can we create it? What are our creative and cognitive capacities as humans compared to a divine creator?”
All this miniaturisation and precision craftsmanship in order to produce a model of life astonished me. What was even more startling was seeing the mechanics of how the bird box functioned, and yet how readily I suspended my disbelief when Nico wound it up and the little singing bird emerged. The quality of being remained. I found that this wonderful mechanical object has its origins in our mythic consciousness, when magic and mechanics were believed to be part of the same natural principles.
https://slate.com/technology/2018/11/strange-frequencies-automaton-dolls-eyes.html
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