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(English version below)

Bonjour les ami.e.s !

Nous sommes 311 ! 

Si vous connaissez des gens qui seraient intéressés par la machine n'hésitez pas à leur transmettre l'adresse (la-machine.fr) ou à la poster sur vos réseaux sociaux (favoris). Merci !

🔈 Bande-son 🔈

"J'ai pas de cœur
Mais pour toi
Je fais danser les moteurs en moi" 

Amour Ex Machina - L'Impératrice

🎓 Un peu d'histoire 🎓

La machine a donc été inventée par un des pionniers de l'intelligence artificielle : Marvin Minsky.

Il raconte dans une vidéo qu'il était en stage aux Bell Labs pendant l'été 1952 et qu'il travaillait dur à inventer de "nouveaux gadgets". Parmi eux, ce qu'il a appelé la machine ultime.

Son mentor, Claude Shannon, le père de la théorie de l'information, décide d'en construire quelques unes et l'histoire commence. (Pour en savoir plus sur le travail de Claude Shannon : voir la vidéo réalisée par les Eames  et écouter ce podcast de Cédric Villani). 

Un jour Arthur C. Clarke l'auteur de science fiction, qui a entre autre écrit le scénario de 2001, l'Odyssée de l'espace (Marvin Minsky était aussi un des conseillers de Kubrick d'ailleurs), voit la machine dans  le bureau de Shannon et a écrit ceci :

"Nothing could be simpler. It is merely a small wooden casket, the size and shape of a cigar box, with a single switch on one face. When you throw the switch, there is an angry, purposeful buzzing. The lid slowly rises, and from beneath it emerges a hand. The hand reaches down, turns the switch off and retreats into the box. With the finality of a closing coffin, the lid snaps shut, the buzzing ceases and peace reigns once more. The psychological effect, if you do not know what to expect, is devastating. There is something unspeakably sinister about a machine that does nothing - absolutely nothing - except switch itself off."

Si on veut rester dans les célébrités qui ont parlé de la machine : le philosophe Ivan Illich (dont le principe de contre-productivité est très intéressant) en parle dans son  livre Deschooling Society : il compare notre société à la machine, rien que ça. 

"Our society resembles the ultimate machine which I once saw in a New York toy shop. It was a metal casket which, when you touched a switch, snapped open to reveal a mechanical hand. Chromed fingers reached out for the lid, pulled it down, and locked it from the inside. It was a box; you expected to be able to take something out of it; yet all it contained was a mechanism for closing the cover. This contraption is the opposite of Pandora's box."

Et puis, on peut terminer le name dropping par cet épisode de la série Fargo dans laquelle Gloria trouve une étrange boîte.

Bon. Mais est-ce qu'il y a des gens qui se sont dit que c'était une bonne idée  commerciale ? Ce que nous dit l'internet c'est qu'il y a eu au moins deux essais de commercialisation dans les années 1960. 

Une première appelée "Monster inside the black-box".

Et ensuite, l'inventeur fou, Don Poynter commercialise une version qu'il appelle simplement "The Little Black Box". Une petite démo ?

Je ne sais pas si cette petite boîte  a eu beaucoup de succès parce qu'assez vite il est passé à la version qui ramasse l'argent : celle que l'on voit notamment dans la série Le Prisonnier, épisode "Le Général".

En 2024, il suffit de taper "useless box" dans votre moteur de recherche et on tombe facilement sur diverses versions que l'on trouve réunies chez un distributeur qui s'appelle tout simplement  "Useless Box Store" et qui ne lésine pas sur le marketing pour en promouvoir les bienfaits !

Il y a aussi une société Sri Lankaise, Robotszu, qui commercialise des versions assez spectaculaires ! Dont celle ci notamment !

Mais la machine a surtout fait l'objet de centaines de déclinaisons par la communauté des "makers". Et là il y a de vraies pépites. On voit ça prochainement !

☕️ Le café du commerce ☕️

Il y a la newsletter mais il y a aussi le café du commerce, un endroit où papoter et où l'on pourra aussi se voir et se parler si besoin. Il s'agit d'un serveur Discord. Vous trouvez ci-dessous le lien d'invitation. 

Voilà ! C'est tout pour aujourd'hui. On se retrouve ici très vite ou à la machine à café.

Bon week-end !

Olivier

PS : Si vous pointez quelques imprécisions dans ce mini cours d'histoire ou si vous voulez ajouter des choses : dites le moi ! (en répondant à cet email par exemple).

Hello friends! 

Here is the first newsletter from the friends of la machine. We are 311! Of course, if you know people who would be interested, feel free to share the address (la-machine.fr) with them or post it on your favorite social networks.

🔈 Soundtrack 🔈

"J'ai pas de cœur
Mais pour toi
Je fais danser les moteurs en moi" 

Amour Ex Machina - L'Impératrice

🎓 A bit of history 🎓

La machine was invented by one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence: Marvin Minsky.

He recounts in a video that he was an intern at Bell Labs during the summer of 1952 and was working hard to invent "new gadgets," including what he called the ultimate machine.

His mentor, Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, decided to build a few of them, and the story begins. (To learn more about Claude Shannon's theory, be sure to watch the video by the Eames).

One day, Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction author who, among other things, wrote the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey (Marvin Minsky was also one of Kubrick's advisors, by the way), saw la machine in Claude Shannon's office and  wrote this:

"Nothing could be simpler. It is merely a small wooden casket, the size and shape of a cigar box, with a single switch on one face. When you throw the switch, there is an angry, purposeful buzzing. The lid slowly rises, and from beneath it emerges a hand. The hand reaches down, turns the switch off, and retreats into the box. With the finality of a closing coffin, the lid snaps shut, the buzzing ceases, and peace reigns once more. The psychological effect, if you do not know what to expect, is devastating. There is something unspeakably sinister about a machine that does nothing - absolutely nothing - except switch itself off."

If we want to stick with celebrities who have talked about the ultimate machine: the philosopher Ivan Illich (whose principle of counter-productivity is very interesting) mentions it in his book Deschooling Society. He compares our society to the machine, no less.

"Our society resembles the ultimate machine which I once saw in a New York toy shop. It was a metal casket which, when you touched a switch, snapped open to reveal a mechanical hand. Chromed fingers reached out for the lid, pulled it down, and locked it from the inside. It was a box; you expected to be able to take something out of it; yet all it contained was a mechanism for closing the cover. This contraption is the opposite of Pandora's box."

And we can finish the name-dropping with this episode of the series Fargo in which Gloria finds a strange box.

Well. But did anyone think it was a good business idea? What the internet tells us is that there were at least two attempts at commercialization in the 1960s.

The first was called "Monster inside the black box."

And then, the mad inventor Don Poynter marketed a version he simply called "The Little Black Box." A little demo?

I don't know if it was very successful because quite quickly, he moved on to the version that collects money: the one notably seen in the series The Prisoner, episode "The General."

In 2024, just type "useless box" into your search engine, and you will easily find a few versions that are also gathered at a distributor simply called "Useless Box Store" and who spares no expense in marketing to promote its benefits!

There is also a Sri Lankan company, Robotszu, that markets some quite spectacular versions! Including this one!

But the useless box has mainly been the subject of hundreds of variations by the maker community. And there are real gems there. We'll look at that another time!

☕️ The Coffee Shop ☕️

There is the newsletter, but I have also created a place to chat and where we can also see and talk to each other if needed. It is a Discord server. You will find the invitation link below. 

It may be a mix of French and English messages but I'll answer any English message in English, so do not worry: you don't have to take French lessons to participate (and the "Translator" app is there to help).

That's it for today. We'll meet here very soon or at the coffee shop.

Have a great weekend!

Olivier

P.S.: If you notice any inaccuracies in this mini history lesson or if you want to add something, let me know! (by replying to this email, for example).