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The Greek myth of Talos, the first robot - Adrienne Mayor

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TEDEd Animation

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Hephaestus, god of technology, was hard at work on his most ingenious invention yet. He was creating a new defense system for King Minos, who wanted fewer intruders on his island kingdom of Crete. But mortal guards and ordinary weapons wouldn’t suffice, so the visionary god devised an indomitable new defender. Adrienna Mayor dives into the myth of Talos: the first robot.

Modern science fiction stories often imagine that machines, robots, and Artificial Intelligence will develop minds of their own and make decisions without human input. How does the ancient science fiction tale of Talos fit in with these ideas?

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Adrienne Mayor
  • Director Natália Faria, Kelvin Lima
  • Narrator Alexandra Panzer
  • Producer Felipe Grosso, Odirlei Seixas, Liana Vianna
  • Editor Natália Faria
  • Compositor Natália Faria
  • Senior Animator Natália Faria, Kelvin Lima
  • Storyboard Artist Natália Faria
  • Art Director Kelvin Lima
  • Illustrator Kelvin Lima, Vini Pereira
  • Character Designer Kelvin Lima, Vini Pereira, Luke Passos
  • Animator Vini Pereira, Luke Passos
  • Sound Designer Matheus Wittmann
  • Composer Matheus Wittmann
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Associate Editorial Producer Dan Kwartler
  • Script Editor Iseult Gillespie
  • Fact-Checker Eden Girma

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