Seneca on artificial intelligence
Roughly two thousand years ago, Seneca wrote to his friend Lucilius in letter 27, "On the good which abides":
But none the less did he (Calvisius Sabinus1) desire to appear learned.
So he devised this short cut to learning: he paid fabulous prices for slaves — one to know Homer by heart and another to know Hesiod; he also delegated a special slave to each of the nine lyric poets. You need not wonder that he paid high prices for these slaves; if he did not find them ready to hand he had them made to order. After collecting this retinue, he began to make life miserable for his guests; he would keep these fellows at the foot of his couch, and ask them from time for verses he might repeat, and then frequently break down in the middle of a word.
Satellius Quadratus, a feeder and consequently a fawner, upon addle-pated millionaires, and also (for this quality goes with the other two) a flouter of them, suggested to Sabinus that he should have philologists to gather up the bits.2 Sabinus remarked that each slave cost him one hundred thousand sesterces; Satellius replied: "You might have bought as many book-cases for a smaller sum." But Sabinus held to the opinion that what any member of household knew, he himself knew also.
This same Satellius began to advise Sabinus to take wrestling lessons — sickly, pale, and thin as he was, Sabinus answered: "How can I? I can scarcely stay alive now." "Don't say that, I implore you," replied the other, "consider how many perfectly healthy slaves you have!" No man is able to borrow or buy a sound mind.
It almost feels a bit too on the nose.
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As characterised by Seneca: "I never saw a man whose good fortune was a greater offence against propriety. His memory was so faulty that he would sometimes forget the name of Ulysses, or Achilles, or Priam — names which we know as well as we know those of our own attendants." ↩
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The bits of wisdom and ideas that dropped out of Sabinus' head. ↩