The Control Hammer - io9 Comments

The Control Hammer

Elle Menopi — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:35:29 PST

Maybe I should do a search of the site before I open my big mouth, huh?

Elle Menopi

The Control Hammer

Elle Menopi — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:28:29 PST

Steampunk comes to io9.

Elle Menopi

The Control Hammer

Liz Henry — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:30:03 PST

Wow... those are some very beautiful sleek-looking machines!

I wish gadgets looked like that now.

Liz Henry

The Control Hammer

Geoff Manaugh — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:33:11 PST

Brilliantmistake, the devices are exactly what you describe them as - and they measure the limits of human physiology and psychology. They come from an era when "psychology" referred as much to nervous reflexes and to the nature of vision as to the abstract contents of thoughts and dreams.

To me, that does indeed mean that they were used to help find the limits of what it means to be "human" - where recognizable human experience, both physical and mental, medical and psychological, comes to an end. These devices helped map out and measure those limits - just as EKGs and EEGs do today.

Geoff Manaugh

The Control Hammer

regis — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:52:09 PST

back just before my hysterectomy because of uterine cancer, i was consumed with an urge to rewatch "dead ringers", specifically for all the "gynecological procedures on mutant women".

some vague shred of survival instinct kept me from renting the movie in the couple of weeks before the surgery, tho. i bet it would've made for interesting painkiller dreams in the hospital, tho.

regis

The Control Hammer

d00d34 — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:20:53 PST

That last pic of the metal finger thingy looks freaky. I want one.

d00d34

The Control Hammer

giant_turtle — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:05:08 PST

@brilliantmistake: zing!

giant_turtle

The Control Hammer

FrankenPC — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:00:15 PST

That last device looks like one of the instruments from Dead Ringers.

FrankenPC

The Control Hammer

brilliantmistake — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:44:10 PST

Is this post serious? These instruments, most of them, are simply primitive versions of modern instruments, made with the technology of the time.

As you point out, one of them is basically just a metronome. The galvanometer is just a crude (but for its time, sophisticated), EKG machine. None of them are invasive or gynecological. You insinuate that they were all used to measure "humanity" when they were actually measuring baseline data on human physiology, such as hearing and reaction time. They no more measure personality or humanity than a modern EKG, nor does it seem like the inventors created their instruments with that intention, any more than the inventors of the MRI.

It is true that they, like any instrument, can be used to test wacky hypotheses about personality (as some are doing today with MRIs).

I think this post says more about the author's psychology than the inventors, but I'd have to hook him up to my special "blogger psychometer device" to be sure.

brilliantmistake

The Control Hammer

Ed Grabianowski — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:40:59 PST

This was my favorite entry at io9 so far. Comparing these to the devices in Dead Ringers made for some great thought-juice (you know, that stuff that starts flowing when someone's given you something intriguing to ponder). This also reminded me of Dark City, what with the ongoing mass psychological experiment aspect.

Also, The Control Hammer is perhaps the finest hypothetical name for metal/industrial/dark rock band I've ever heard.

Ed Grabianowski

The Control Hammer

Cenobite — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:33:07 PST

Any article that mentions Hellraiser, Industrial music and David Cronenberg gets 5 stars from me!

Cenobite

The Control Hammer

HeyThereKiller — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:19:19 PST

science looks like it hurt back in the day

HeyThereKiller

The Control Hammer

Dekker — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:15:19 PST

@Dekker: "types" of devices. Not these specific ones.

Dekker

The Control Hammer

Dekker — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:11:36 PST

I've always been fascinated by the old newspaper ads for these devices.

Dekker