Serial Number: http://www.riss.kr/link?id=A106406671
Title: Perception of a “Mechanical Person” in the 1930’s, Colonial Joseon: As a Stepping Stone Toward AI
Author: Han Mi-Ra
Journal: Culture and Convergence (Culture and Convergence)
Vol: 41/5
Pages: 717-746
Date: 2019.
Register Information: KCI
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<Abstract>
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a machine that “imitates human thinking.” The desire to create such a mechanism originated from the ancient automatic doll. In the 20th century, the automatic doll or the Mechanical Person, which mimicked simple movements of humans, was developed, and this served as the background for the creation of AI.
Therefore, it is important to examine the history of AI by analyzing the manufacturing patterns and representations of the Mechanical Person in the first half of the 20th century, as a prototype of AI.
This paper examines the level of recognition of science and technology through the discussions about the Mechanical Person in colonial Joseon in the 1920s and ’30s, and explores its relationship with current AI technology.
The first attempt to make a Mechanical Person, whose behavior resembled that of humans, was introduced to Joseon in the 1920s.
In 1929, the “Hakcheon Chik,” the first Mechanical Person in Asia, was made in Japan. It was exhibited at the Joseon Expo, so that Koreans could get a chance to view the real Mechanical Person.
However, after continuously analyzing articles about the creation of the Mechanical Person and the future prospects introduced until the 1930s, there was no evidence that the actual experience of the Mechanical Person stimulated the development of science and technology.
At that time, there were quite a few articles showing that the Mechanical Person would change the prospects for the future. However, they did not prove to be empirical, except that there would be recurring social problems caused by machines replacing human labor, immediately after the Industrial Revolution.
It was a rather vague prospect of creating the same organics as human beings, or adapting contents that seemed to emanate from science fiction to instill uncertainty among the public.
There was also an article that seriously cited human crosses by linking the creation of the Mechanical Person, which should be based on engineering or physics, with eugenics.
This reveals the poor understanding of science and technology in colonial Joseon at that time, and shows that the relationship between the development of science and technology after the liberation and the dialogue about the Mechanical Person in the 1930s is not strong.
Then, why was Imperial Japan’s science and technology not interested in the Mechanical Person at the time? This is because Japanese modern science and technology developed only in the fields where it could be applied immediately since the Meiji Restoration, that is, the industrial and military fields. Therefore, it was difficult for colonial Joseon, which was subordinate to Japan, to develop a deep understanding of the Mechanical Person.
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