Homer’s Intelligent Machines: AI in Antiquity

Samantha Thomas; Genevieve Liveley

doi:10.1093/oso/9780198846666.001.0001

Homer’s Intelligent Machines: AI in Antiquity

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book

Abstract

Through close literary analysis of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, this chapter traces the various gradations of weak to strong machine ‘intelligence’ that these ancient poems describe and the mind models that they assume. Beginning with a re-examination of the weak AI evinced in Homer’s descriptions of relatively simple automata, it goes on to analyse Homer’s autonomous vehicles and golden slave girls, considering the more sophisticated models of artificial mind and machine cognition attributed to Homer’s stronger, embodied AI. Throughout, this chapter asks: What kinds of priorities and paradigms do we find in AI stories from Homeric epic and how do these still resonate in contemporary discourse on AI? In particular, what distinctions does Homer draw between artificial and human minds and intelligences? And what is the legacy of Homer’s intelligent machines and the ancient narrative history of AI?

Original language	English
Title of host publication	AI Narratives
Subtitle of host publication	A History of Imaginative Thinking about Intelligent Machines
Editors	Stephen Cave, Kanta Dihal, Sarah Dillon
Publisher	Oxford University Press
Chapter	1
Pages	25-48
Number of pages	24
ISBN (Electronic)	9780191881817
ISBN (Print)	9780198846666
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198846666.001.0001
Publication status	Published - 21 Feb 2020

Research Groups and Themes

Institute of Greece, Rome, and the Classical Tradition
Jean Golding

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10.1093/oso/9780198846666.001.0001

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Persistent link

Professor Genevieve Liveley
- G.Liveleybristol.acuk
- Department of Classics & Ancient History - Professor of Classics
Person: Academic

Cite this

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title = "Homer{\textquoteright}s Intelligent Machines: AI in Antiquity",

abstract = "Through close literary analysis of Homer{\textquoteright}s Iliad and Odyssey, this chapter traces the various gradations of weak to strong machine {\textquoteleft}intelligence{\textquoteright} that these ancient poems describe and the mind models that they assume. Beginning with a re-examination of the weak AI evinced in Homer{\textquoteright}s descriptions of relatively simple automata, it goes on to analyse Homer{\textquoteright}s autonomous vehicles and golden slave girls, considering the more sophisticated models of artificial mind and machine cognition attributed to Homer{\textquoteright}s stronger, embodied AI. Throughout, this chapter asks: What kinds of priorities and paradigms do we find in AI stories from Homeric epic and how do these still resonate in contemporary discourse on AI? In particular, what distinctions does Homer draw between artificial and human minds and intelligences? And what is the legacy of Homer{\textquoteright}s intelligent machines and the ancient narrative history of AI?",

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AB - Through close literary analysis of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, this chapter traces the various gradations of weak to strong machine ‘intelligence’ that these ancient poems describe and the mind models that they assume. Beginning with a re-examination of the weak AI evinced in Homer’s descriptions of relatively simple automata, it goes on to analyse Homer’s autonomous vehicles and golden slave girls, considering the more sophisticated models of artificial mind and machine cognition attributed to Homer’s stronger, embodied AI. Throughout, this chapter asks: What kinds of priorities and paradigms do we find in AI stories from Homeric epic and how do these still resonate in contemporary discourse on AI? In particular, what distinctions does Homer draw between artificial and human minds and intelligences? And what is the legacy of Homer’s intelligent machines and the ancient narrative history of AI?

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A2 - Cave, Stephen

A2 - Dihal, Kanta

A2 - Dillon, Sarah

PB - Oxford University Press

ER -

Homer’s Intelligent Machines: AI in Antiquity

Abstract

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Professor Genevieve Liveley

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