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The Great Machines of Singapore? were the first to pass the Turing Challenge?, the first of the great artificial intelligences, who in their iterations were perhaps only equaled by the Diego Garcia Biointelligence Array. The Great Machines were the natural outgrowth of the previous works of clock maker, of aetheric science and of the results of Operation Blind Watchmaker?.

Of course the Great Machines became part of a feedback loop that caused rapid development of greater and greater intelligences. A cycle that did not end until the Great RollBack.

The Great Machines in their clockwork perfection brought forth many wonders. Inventors of the Bathyscapic Inversion Therapy, of clockwork geishas (see also Mental Playmates?), of the harmonic resonance tuner and many, many other things. And yet they had weaknesses. They never did understand Faringei and those music forms that came later. They couldn’t play Aetheric Go worth a damn. And in the end these little weaknesses compounded and meant they weren’t able to move beyond mere corporality.

What surprises many observers, especially those who have grown up on a steady diet of the second 20th centuries Science Fiction is that the Great Machines were very capable of taking advantage of the theory of General Absolutivity, especially the sections that apply to Love?, and were some of the finest engineers drawing from its principles.

It is interesting that while the Great Machines spread throughout human space there were places they were never able to gain entry. Callisto was always anathema to them. I have here footage preserved from the Rollback that shows the physical manifestation of a Great Machine twisting itself out of existence upon landing on Callisto’s surface. Whether this had to do with some part of the nature of Trathala? or not is uncertain. In light of the Deimos Experiment that was perhaps a good thing for Callisto.

There is lots of evidence that the Great Machines attempted to play humanity as their servants, perhaps even gaining control over several governmental bodies. If this is the case it makes some of the later actions of the Department of Cancellations seem reasonable.

Yes, the Great Machines did glean the existence of the Society of Flowers, and contrary to the wishes of Lord Entropy they became a major player in Noble machinations, filling a similar role to the Cammora, which means that for several centuries there was a three-way competition between the Great Machines, the Deigos and the Cammora. Something that many view preferable to the current situation, which has spawned some theories that Entropy caused or allowed the Rollback to prevent any further erosion of his beloved Cammora's powerbase.

Few Great Machines survived the Rollback, but there were a few that did, hidden away in various chancels or have taken other precautions. Those who have are rumored to be working to resolve several issues of time and restore their kind to a more active roll on the Ash, if that’s the case they must be seeking a way to replicate Auctoritas. A situation that I would like to war all my colleagues to be aware of, for if the Machines return in force they will be a wild card that may throw the Valde Bellum in disarray.

See also Callisto, Operation Blind Watchmaker?, and the Turing Challenge?

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This is a G entry in the Lexicon of the Lost 500 Years.