The Genealogy of an Image, or, What Does Literature (Not) Have To Do with the History of Computing? : Tracing the Sources and Reception of Gulliver’s “Knowledge Engine”

Johannah Rodgers

doi:10.3390/h6040085

Abstract

The illustration of the “knowledge engine” included in early editions of Gulliver’s Travels is an engraving of a sketch from the notebook of Lemuel Gulliver. In other words, it is a purely fictional object. Yet, Swift's fictional invention and its graphic representations have become part of the documented historical lineage of computing machines. Furthermore, one of Swift’s purposes for inventing the “knowledge engine” was to satirize the scientific and technical cultures that now claim it as part of their history. As one piece of the elaborate discursive and material code of Gulliver’s Travels, “the knowledge engine,” its sources, and its reception offer some unique insights into the relationships that exist amongst factual and fictional narratives, scientific and humanistic discourse, words and images, and print and digital technologies. Although numerous scientific and philosophical texts have been cited as possible sources informing Swift’s satirical invention, this article considers a lesser known one, John Peter’s 1677 pamphlet Artificial Versifying, or the Schoolboy’s Recreation, which is itself a print-based textual machine for generating lines of Latin hexameter verse.

Highlights

Illustration of of 3 of thethe second edition of ofSeveral Remote Nations by Lemuel Gulliver (Benjamin Motte, 1726) (Swift 1726)
The illustration of the “knowledge engine” included in early editions of Gulliver’s Travels is an engraving of a sketch from the notebook of Lemuel Gulliver
“In 1726 Jonathan Swift published a description of a wonderful machine, made of equal parts of irony, sarcasm, and mockery, that would automatically write books on all the arts and sciences without the least assistance from genius or study.”

Summary

Illustration of of 3 of thethe second edition of of

Several Remote Nations by Lemuel Gulliver (Benjamin Motte, 1726) (Swift 1726). See Scott (1814), Koch (1996), Knowlson (1975), Cornelius (1965), and Swift (1978). A discussion of the relationships amongst theKnowlson characters(1975), included in the(1965), graphic depiction of theFor and their amongst the characters included in the graphic depiction of the “knowledge engine” and their significance in relation to significance in relation to conceptions of China, Chinese writing, the Far East, and the search for conceptions of China, Chinese writing, the Far East, and the search for “representational legitimacy” in the long 18th century, legitimacy”. Long 18th see David (1993) discussion in Ideographia 24) and Lydia Liu’s (2011) discussion in The Freudian Robot

Screenshot of Electronic

Tables from from John