- Author
- Not stated (Wikipedia contributors)
- Published
- Last edited 27 August 2026
- Kind
- Short encyclopedia article, collaboratively written
- Original
- en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Murray_Spear
- Subject
- Occult, myth and religion
- Themes
- Belief at work, What counts as a mind
What it is
A brief reference article on John Murray Spear, who lived from 1804 to 1887. It has sections on early life, the machine, and later life.
What it says
- Spear was a Universalist minister and abolitionist. Spear also worked on prison reform.
- In 1852 Spear left the Universalists for Spiritualism. Spear claimed contact with the Association of Electrizers.
- The article says evidence indicates Spear occasionally faked signatures from these spirit guides.
- Spear and followers built the New Motive Power in Lynn, Massachusetts. It was a messianic perpetual motion machine.
- A ritual birth of the machine failed, and hostile neighbors later destroyed it.
What evidence it gives
The article cites a 2006 biography by John Benedict Buescher. It also cites a finding aid and a book on Spiritualism. It reproduces Spear's business card text. Claims are mostly single-sentence statements.
Interests and limits
This is a short secondary summary that cites few sources. The machine's details come from a few lines. Some claims rest on one cited work. The text reflects the version edited on 27 August 2026.
Connections
These links are this wiki's own reading, not claims the sources make.
- Viable Systems: How To Build a Fully Autonomous Agent. Spear and followers built the New Motive Power, a messianic machine, and staged its birth. Kellogg writes that identity and values seem to make agents come alive. The ritual failed, and the agents run. Still, both hopes concern what turns a mechanism into a someone.