Ahmed Areff | From crypto scams to tech messiahs - 5 ways to protect society from bulls**t

AI, crypto and the blockchain, and a myriad of other new disruptive technologies might very well change the world at some point down the line. But we do need to be aware of the charlatans promising untold riches and the end of old-fashioned civilisation, writes Ahmed Areff. 

In 1770, German inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen unveiled a machine – an automaton – in the form of a Turkish man that could, with no human involvement, play and beat nearly any opponent in a game of chess. This wonder trounced the likes of Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon during its nearly 90-year run at exhibitions and the like.

Years later, it emerged that this "Mechanical Turk" was just a fancy bit of fakery – a trick made possible with a human chess master hidden in the guts of the machinery.