Moxon's Master

"Moxon's Master" is a short story by the late 19th century American author Ambrose Bierce that speculates on the nature of life and intelligence. It describes a chess-playing robot automaton that murders its creator. Published in 1909, it is one of the first descriptions of a robot in English literature.

Plot summary

In the story, the master, Moxon, holds a conversation with the unnamed narrator. After a thorough discussion about what it is to be "thinking" and "intelligent", the unnamed narrator leaves. At this point the narrator is not aware of the existence of the robot.

Shortly after the narrator returns to Moxon's in order to learn more. He enters the house and heads toward the machine room, where he finds Moxon playing a chess game with the automaton. Moxon wins the game, and the automaton kills him in an apparent fit of rage. The narrator later questions whether what he saw was real, although he does not directly deny it.

See also

Novels portal

• List of fictional robots and androids
• Chess-related deaths

Real or hoax chess-playing automatons:

• The Turk
• Walker Chess-player

External links

• Full text of the short story