The Long History of AI: From Descartes to Astro Boy & ChatGPT

About this episode

What if artificial intelligence isn't just about machines? What if it's part of a much longer story about how we understand ourselves?   In every age, humans have questioned what separates us from animals, machines, and each other. In this episode, Angus Hervey and Ada Palmer explore our changing ideas of consciousness and intelligence. From Descartes and religion to Astro Boy and the futures we once imagined, this conversation connects our history of consciousness with today's AI debate.   In this conversation: • What Descartes would make of artificial intelligence?  • Why Japan gave Astro Boy a birth certificate?  • What Ada's science fiction epic, Terra Ignota, got right about AI  • And is consciousness really a yes-or-no question?   Timestamps: 00:54 What Descartes would say if you gave him Claude? 04:51 How our theories of consciousness have changed history 09:22 How Astro Boy influenced Silicon Valley 11:16 The history of Manga 19:12 Do you need to be alive to be conscious? 21:50 What Aristotle got right in defining the differences between things 24:37 Appetites. Passions. Reason. 29:32 The religious debate - Body v The Soul 32:10 Dante’s Inferno unlocked 34:2