← A. Inventions, No. 16
Imogen Jørgensen (b. 1922) and
Hjalmar Jørgensen (1913–2001)
Measuring and Alignment Devices
1959–1964
Latent-Utrymme AB, est. 1901, Uppsala, Sweden. Nickel-plated steel housing, base in anodized aluminum with lead counterweights, ground glass viewfinders with black lacquered interiors, polyphenylene sulfide reticules with engraved calibration marks. 6¼ × 4⅛ × 6". Collection of the author.
Desktop devices for cross-checking measurements and comparing elevations! Would these have been an incredible boon to woodworkers, modelmakers, machinists, and architects — even if they profoundly changed the work of toolmakers, surveyors, and draftspeople? I can only imagine what feelings might have arisen, surrounding some gimcrack piece of tech that suddenly elevated the abilities of uncredentialed amateurs. I suspect that few people would have seen them as a terrific way to extend their own creative reach, and explore new ideas with ease.
Published December 19, 2022. Copyright © 2022 Jonathan Hoefler.
About
The objects in the Apocryphal Inventions series are technical chimeras, intentional misdirections coaxed from the generative AI platform Midjourney. Instead of iterating on the system’s early drafts to create ever more accurate renderings of real-world objects, creator Jonathan Hoefler subverted the system to refine and intensify its most intriguing misunderstandings, pushing the software to create beguiling, aestheticized nonsense. Some images have been retouched to make them more plausible; others have been left intact, appearing exactly as generated by the software. The accompanying descriptions, written by the author, offer fictitious backstories rooted in historical fact, which suggest how each of these inventions might have come to be.
These images represent some of AI’s most intriguing answers to confounding questions, an inversion of the more pressing debate in which it is humanity that must confront the difficult and existential questions posed by artificial intelligence.
Previously:
No. 15. Calling Card Blotting Presses
Next:
No. 17. Spirit Levels
