User:HieronymusBot/sandbox

Contribution Description
I am editing the History of Artificial Intelligence page.

Specifically, I am editing the "Precursors" section of the page.

Restructuring: I subdivided the Precursors section into "Mythical, Fictional, and Speculative Precursors," and "Intellectual and Technological Precursors."

Expansion: I expanded the Myth/Fiction/Speculation substantially (>=500 words) by including brief synopses of accounts of the fabrication of artificial beings. I also added the Faust image.

I added all sources below to the page, except for 10, 14, 15, 16, 17. Those were there prior to my edits.

Myth and Legend
'''In Greek Mythology, Talos was a giant constructed of bronze who acted as guardian for the island of Crete. He would throw boulders at the ships of invaders, and would complete 3 circuits around the islands perimeter daily. According to pseudo-Apollodorus' Bibliotheke, Hephaestus forged Talos with the aid of a cyclops and presented the automaton as a gift to Minos. In the Argonautica, Jason and the Argonauts defeated him by way of a single plug near his foot which, once removed, allowed the vital ichor to flow out from his body and left him inanimate. '''

'Pygmalion was a legendary king and sculptor of Greek Mythology, famously represented in Ovid’s Metamorphoses''. In the 10th book of Ovid’s narrative poem, Pygmalion becomes disgusted with women when he witnesses the way in which the Propoetides prostitute themselves. Despite this, he makes offerings at the temple of Venus asking the goddess to bring to him a woman just like a statue he carved and fell in love with. Indeed the statue, Galatea, came to life and by some accounts she and Pygmalion conceived a child. '''

'''The Golem is an artificial being of Jewish Folklore, created from clay and-- depending on the source-- often given some sort of objective. The earliest written account regarding golem-making is found in the writings of Eleazar ben Judah of Worms circa 12-13th C. During the Middle Ages, it was believed that the animation of a Golem could be achieved by insertion of a piece of paper with any of God’s names on it, into the mouth of the clay figure. Unlike legendary automata like Brazen Heads, a Golem was unable to speak. '''

Alchemical Means of Artificial Intelligence
'In Of the Nature of Things'', written by the the Swiss-born alchemist, Paracelsus, he describes a procedure which he claims can fabricate an “artificial man.” By placing the “sperm of a man” in horse dung, and feeding it the “Arcanum of Mans blood” after 40 days, the concoction will become a living infant. Predating Paracelsus was Jābir ibn Hayyān's take on the homunculus: Takwin In Faust, The Second Part of the Tragedy by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, an alchemically fabricated Homunculus, destined to live forever in the flask in which he was made, endeavors to be born into a full human body. Upon the initiation of this transformation, however, the flask shatters and the Homunculus dies. '''

Early-Modern Legendary Automata
'''These automata legendary during the early modern period were said to possess the magical ability to answer questions put to them. The late medieval alchemist and scholar Roger Bacon was purported to have fabricated one, having developed a legend of having been a wizard. These legends were similar to the Norse myth of the Head of Mímir. According to legend, Mímir was known for his intellect and wisdom, and was beheaded in the Æsir-Vanir War. Odin is said to have “embalmed” the head with herbs and spoke incantations over it such that Mímir’s head remained able to speak wisdom to Odin. Odin then kept the head near him for counsel. '''

Modern Fiction
By the 19th century, ideas about artificial men and thinking machines were developed in fiction, as in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or  Karel Čapek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), and speculation, such as Samuel Butler's "Darwin among the Machines." AI has continued to be an important element of science fiction into the present. AI has become a regular topic of science fiction through the present.

Automata
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Formal reasoning
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Computer science
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AI in myth, fiction and speculation
Mechanical men and artificial beings appear in Greek myths, such as the golden robots of Hephaestus and Pygmalion's Galatea. In the Middle Ages, there were rumors of secret mystical or alchemical means of placing mind into matter, such as Jābir ibn Hayyān's Takwin, Paracelsus' homunculus and Rabbi Judah Loew's Golem. By the 19th century, ideas about artificial men and thinking machines were developed in fiction, as in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or  Karel Čapek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), and speculation, such as Samuel Butler's "Darwin among the Machines." AI has continued to be an important element of science fiction into the present.

Automata
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Formal reasoning
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Computer science
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