Roots of artificial intelligence may stretch back to antiquity
The current fervour around AI raises the question of whether we are standing on the threshold of a new technological era, or merely chasing another fleeting dream. History shows that the roots of artificial intelligence reach back millennia, as people have long pondered whether they could ever create life.
The hype surrounding AI today has ballooned into a spectacular phenomenon, yet enthusiasm for technological innovation is by no means new. Throughout history, people have repeatedly believed that a new invention could fundamentally and swiftly transform the world – from the tulip mania of the 17th century to the dot-com bubble of the 1990s.
At the same time, the roots of artificial intelligence reveal that this is not merely a technological concept: it is rather a kind of myth that recalls one of Western culture’s oldest stories – humanity’s desire for creative power, according to The Conversation.
Prometheus, the first technological revolutionary
The deeper cultural roots of artificial intelligence are perhaps best illustrated by the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus. The Titan who stole fire from Hephaestus did not merely give humans light – he also bestowed upon them the intelligence necessary for creation.
According to the myth, after acquiring fire, humans learned to write, build houses, read the stars, domesticate animals, and even interpret dreams. Prometheus’ gift was thus a fragment of divine creativity.
The Greeks also suggested, simultaneously, that humans themselves might be created through technology. Prometheus and Hephaestus seemed to fashion the first man and woman as artisans in a workshop, raising the idea that if humans can be artificially produced, then so too might we create artificial beings.
The papacy and the roots of artificial intelligence in the Middle Ages
The Prometheus myth did not disappear in the Middle Ages. Legends surrounded Pope Sylvester II, who lived in the 10th century, claiming that, drawing on his astronomical knowledge, he created a speaking bronze head that could answer yes–no questions.
According to legend, the head predicted that he would become pope and that he would not die before celebrating mass in Jerusalem. Gerbert took care to avoid the Holy Land, yet once he celebrated mass in a Roman church then called “Jerusalem” – and fell ill and died that very day.
The story is obviously fictional, yet significant in showing that people as early as the 12th century could conceive of a scholar creating a predictive machine – in other words, a form of intelligent automaton.
The dream of automatons in the Age of Enlightenment
In the 18th century, the name Jacques de Vaucanson became synonymous with the possibility of artificial life. His automatons – the flute-playing man, the “digesting duck,” and the tambourine-playing peasant – gave the impression that bodily functions could be mechanically replicated.
Vaucanson worked on creating a “moving anatomy”: a device capable of reproducing the complete workings of an animal body. He planned to build an entire artificial body, and although he ultimately failed, his contemporaries believed in the possibility.
Could AI developers be the Prometheuses of the modern era?
Today’s AI bubble is rooted in the same desire, and with rapid progress, it is easy to feel that total artificial intelligence is within reach. Yet it is important to remember that the roots of artificial intelligence show us that the myth of the technology always grows faster than the technology itself.
Many have tried to seize Prometheus’ fire – popes, inventors, philosophers, engineers – yet none have truly succeeded. Could today’s AI developers be the exception?
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