Seems, AI hype turned into artificial intelligence bubble. There used to be a lot of bubbles, starting with Tulip mania 17th century before derivatives bubble XXI century. For many commentators, the most important precedent today is dotcom bubble 1990s. Then a new technology appeared ( World Wide Web) caused a wave”irrational exuberanceInvestors poured billions into any company with a “.com” in its name.
Three decades later, another one new technology caused another wave of delight. Investors are pouring billions into any company that has the word “AI” in its name. But there is a crucial difference between these two bubbles that is not always realized. The World Wide Web existed. It was real. General artificial intelligence doesn't exist and no one knows If or When it will happen someday.
So why are investors so eager to give money to people selling artificial intelligence systems? One reason may be that AI is mythical technology. I don't mean it's a lie. What I mean is that it brings to mind a powerful, foundational story in Western culture about the human ability to create.
Perhaps investors are willing to believe that AI is just around the corner because it exploits myths that are deeply ingrained in their imagination?
The Myth of Prometheus
The most relevant myth for AI is the ancient Greek myth of Prometheus.
There are many versions of this myth, but the most famous of them are found in Hesiodpoetry Theogony And Works and daysand in the play Prometheus boundtraditionally attributed Aeschylus.
Prometheus was a Titan, god of the ancient Greek pantheon. He was also a criminal who stole fire from Hephaestus, the blacksmith god. Having hidden fire in a fennel stalk, Prometheus came to earth and gave it to humanity. As punishment, he was chained to a mountain, where an eagle flew every day to eat his liver.
Prometheus's gift was not just the gift of fire; it was the gift of intelligence. In Prometheus Bound, he states that before his gift, people saw without seeing, and heard without hearing. Thanks to his gift, people could write, build houses, read the stars, do mathematics, tame animals, build ships, invent medicines, interpret dreams and make appropriate offerings to the gods.
The myth of Prometheus is a special story of the creation of the world. In the Hebrew Bible, God does not give Adam the power to create life. But Prometheus transfers (part of) the creative power of the gods to humanity.
Hesiod points out this aspect of the myth in his Theogony. In this poem, Zeus not only punishes Prometheus for stealing fire; he also punishes humanity. He orders Hephaestus to fire up his forge and build the first woman, Pandora, who will unleash evil on the world.
The fire that Hephaestus uses to create Pandora is the same fire that Prometheus gave to humanity.
The Greeks came up with the idea that People are a form of artificial intelligence. Prometheus and Hephaestus use technology to create men and women. As historian Adrienne Mayor recounts in her book Gods and robotsThe ancients often depicted Prometheus as a craftsman, using ordinary tools to create people in an ordinary workshop.
If Prometheus gave us the fire of the gods, it would seem to follow that we could use that fire to create our own intelligent beings. Ancient Greek literature abounds in similar stories: from the inventor Daedalus, who created animated statues, to the witch Medea, who could restore youth and potency with the help of her cunning medicines. Greek inventors also built mechanical computers for astronomy and wonderful moving figures works under the influence of gravity, water and air.
Dad and chatbot
It has been 2,700 years since Hesiod first recorded the story of Prometheus. In subsequent centuries, this myth was retold endlessly, especially after the publication of Mary Shelley's book. Frankenstein; or Modern Prometheus in 1818.
But myth is not always told as fiction. Here are two historical examples where the myth of Prometheus seemed to come true.
Herbert of Aurillac was Prometheus of the 10th century. He was born in the early 940s AD. e., studied at school in Aurillac Abbeyand he himself became a monk. He mastered all known areas of knowledge. In 999 he was elected Pope. He died in 1003 under his papal name Sylvester II.
Rumors about Herbert spread widely throughout Europe. A century after his death, his life has already become a legend. One of the most famous legends, and most relevant in this age of AI hype, is the legend of Herbert's “brazen head.” The legend was told in the 1120s by an English historian William Malmesburyin his well-researched and highly regarded book The Acts of the English Kings.
Herbert was deeply knowledgeable in astronomy, the science of prediction. Astronomers could use astrolabe predict the positions of stars and anticipate cosmological events such as eclipses. According to William, Herbert used his knowledge of astronomy to construct a talking head. After studying the movements of stars and planets, he cast a bronze head that could answer yes or no questions.
First, Herbert asked the leader: “Will I become Pope?”
“Yes,” answered the head.
Then Herbert asked: “Will I die before I celebrate Mass in Jerusalem?”
“No,” the manager replied.
In both cases the head was correct, although not as Herbert expected. He became Pope and wisely avoided pilgrimages to Jerusalem. However, one day he celebrated mass in Holy Cross in Jerusalem in Rome. Unfortunately for Herbert, Santa Croce in Gerusalme was known in those days simply as “Jerusalem”.
Herbert fell ill and died. On his deathbed, he asked his servants to cut up his body and throw away the pieces so that he could go to his true master, Satan. Thus, like Prometheus, he was punished for stealing fire.
It's a fascinating story. It is unclear whether William of Malmesbury actually believed this. But he tries to convince his readers that it is plausible. Why did this great historian, devoted to the truth, insert fanciful legends about the French pope into his history of England? Good question!
Is it really so fantastic to believe that an advanced astronomer can build a universal prediction machine? In those days, astronomy was the most powerful predictive science. Sober and learned, William was at least willing to accept the idea that brilliant advances in astronomy could enable the Pope to create an intelligent chatbot.
Today, the same ability is attributed to machine learning algorithms that can predict what ad you'll click on, what movie you'll watch, what word you'll type next. We can be forgiven for falling under the same spell.
Anatomist and machine gun
The Prometheus of the 18th century was Jacques de Vaucanson, at least according to Voltaire:
Brave Vaucanson, Prometheus's rival, Seems to imitate nature's springs, To steal the heavenly fire to quicken the body.
Vaucanson was a great mechanical engineer, famous for his machine guns. These were watch devices that realistically imitated the anatomy of a person or animal. Philosophers of that time believed that the body is a machine. So why couldn't the machinist build it?
Sometimes Vaucanson's automata had scientific significance. For example, he designed a piper that had lips, lungs, and fingers, and blew into the pipe in much the same way as a person does. Historian Jessica Riskin explains in her book Restless hours that Vaucanson had to make significant discoveries in acoustics to get his piper to play in tune.
Sometimes his automata were less scientific. His overcooking duck was extremely famous, but turned out to be a fraud. He appeared to be eating and digesting his food, but his poop was actually pre-made pellets hidden inside the mechanism.
Vaucanson spent decades working on what he called “moving anatomy.” In 1741, he presented a plan to the Academy of Lyon to create “an imitation of all animal operations.” Twenty years later he was at it again. He enlisted the help of King Louis XV to create a simulation of the circulatory system. He claimed that he could build a full-fledged living artificial body.
There is no evidence that Vaucanson ever created an entire body. In the end, it failed to live up to the hype. But many of his contemporaries believed that he could do it. They wanted believe in its magical mechanisms. They wished he will seize the fire of life.
If Vaucanson could create a new human body, couldn't he also repair an existing one? Today, some artificial intelligence companies promise this. According to Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, artificial intelligence will allow people soon “live as long as they want.” Immortality seems like an attractive investment.
Sylvester II and Vaucanson were great technologists, but neither of them was Prometheus. They didn't steal fire from the gods. Can the ambitious Prometheans of Silicon Valley succeed where their predecessors failed? If we had the brazen head of Sylvester II, we could ask her.
This edited article is republished from Talk under Creative Commons license. Read original article.
