Timeline

Ferdinand de Saussure was a Geneva-born linguist, whose book ‘Course in General Linguistics’ (1916) (1) became the cornerstone of modern linguistics. Saussure’s work on language and systems laid the basis for natural language processing (NLP) and modern AI.

Time changes all things; there is no reason why language should escape this universal law.

Ferdinand de Saussure

Saussure’s pioneering linguistic research on identifying language patterns and relationships between signifiers and signifieds (or words and their meanings) is key to understanding how NLP systems can map words and other linguistic units to the concepts they represent, allowing them to perform tasks such as text classification and machine translation.

The conceptual bridge between Saussure and the latest AI developments is represented in Alan Turin’s paper Computing machinery and intelligence.

1. Published by Saussure’s students from lecture notes after his premature death. de Saussure, F. (1916). Course in general linguistics. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23291521M/Course_in_general_linguistics

2. Turing, A. M. (1950). Computing machinery and intelligence. Mind 49: 433-460. https://redirect.cs.umbc.edu/courses/471/papers/turing.pdf

Mary Shelley, the British writer, started writing ‘Frankenstein’ in 1816 in Villa Diodati in Geneva. Shelley was a great fan of science and experimentation. However, she also recognised the potential for the abuse and misuse of science and technology. 

The beginning is always today

Shelley, M. (2014). Short stories, Vol. II. Miniature Masterpieces.

Together with Lord Byron and a group of friends, Shelley came to Geneva in search of better weather, as Geneva typically has more sunny days than London. This was not the case in 1816. That year, both cities missed summer weather because of the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. 

Shelley was a big fan of science and experimentation. She believed that science and technology could improve the human condition.  However, she also recognised the potential for abuse and misuse of these new technologies. In this way, Shelley brought into the focus important questions about the ethics of progress and how to use scientific knowledge in a responsible way. 

Even though technology and society have come a long way since 1816, the dilemma that people faced then are still relevant today. How far can technology go in affecting core human features? Are there ethical limits to technological development?

Here you can find an excerpt from Jovan Kurbalija’s study published in the Geneva Digital Atlas: EspriTech de Genève  | Why does technology meet humanity in Geneva

François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778), better known as Voltaire, was one of the key figures of the Enlightenment. Voltaire lived in Geneva and the neighbouring village Ferney Voltaire, named after him, from 1755 until his death in 1778. His major works include ‘Candide’, ‘Philosophical Letters’, and ‘Treatise on Toleration’. Voltaire remains the icon of Enlightenment philosophy centered around reason, critical thinking, and scientific inquiry.

François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778), better known as Voltaire, was one of the key figures of the Enlightenment. Voltaire lived in Geneva and in the neighbouring village of Ferney-Voltaire, named after him, between 1755 and his death in 1778. His major works include Candide, Philosophical Letters, and Treatise on Toleration. Voltaire is still the symbol of Enlightenment philosophy, which is based on reason, critical thinking, and scientific inquiry.

The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.

Voltaire

He was a strong advocate for the advancement of science and technology. Voltaire thought that everyone should have access to knowledge and that progress in science and technology should help society. In his writings, he frequently criticised the church and state for hindering scientific progress. 

Inspired by Newton’s empirical science and other works, Voltaire remained Newton’s proponent his whole life and always insisted on the use of evidence and facts in social sciences and public life.

Liberty and freedom were crucial to Voltaire’s philosophy. He argued that freedom of thought is a fundamental human right. He also advocates for freedom of expression and freedom of religion. In historical works, he often champions the cause of oppressed peoples and fights against tyranny.

I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it., is often attributed to Voltaire. Although there is no proof that these are his words, they capture the core of his philosophy of liberty very well (1). 

Voltaire’s pursuit of critical thinking and engaging debates is just as important today as it was a few hundred years ago. This is because public debates and spaces are very divided and full of biases and false information. 

1. In 1943, Burdette Kinne of Columbia University published a short article in Modern Language Notes which contained an important letter Hall sent to Kinne in 1939. Hall stated that she had crafted the saying and not Voltaire: The phrase “I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it” which you have found in my book Voltaire in His Letters is my own expression and should not have been put in inverted commas. Please accept my apologies for having, quite unintentionally, misled you into thinking I was quoting a sentence used by Voltaire (or anyone else but myself).’ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/06/01/defend-say/
   

Charles Bonnet (1720 – 1893 was a naturalist, botanist, lawyer, philosopher, psychologist, and politician. He is among the first thinkers to envisage machine learning – AI – as well as links between nature and technology, almost three centuries ago. In 1769, Bonnet wrote that ‘machines could be made to imitate human intelligence’. This insight is built upon his conceptual outline of neural networks, the key AI technology of our era.

Machines could be made to imitate human intelligence.

Bonnet, C. (1789). Betrachtung über die Natur. W. Engelmann.

Charles Bonnet, born in Geneva in 1720, was an exceptional polymath. His many academic interests included being a naturalist, botanist, lawyer, philosopher, psychologist, and politician.

Bonnet was an early boundary spanner, crossing disciplinary delimitations. This approach facilitated his far-reaching insights way ahead of time. 

In 1789, by building on the idea of neural networks, he envisaged artificial intelligence (AI) by arguing that machines could mimic human intelligence (1). 

In his Essai de Psychologie (1755) he describes the concept of neural networks:

‘If all our ideas, even the most abstract, depend ultimately on motions that occur in the brain, it is appropriate to ask whether each idea has a specific fiber dedicated to producing it, or whether different motions of the same fiber produce different ideas.’ (2)

For more on Bonnet and neural networks consult Trends in Cognitive Sciences (3).

The idea of early neural networks was inspired by his theory of associations, which holds that ideas are connected in the mind through associations.

This idea was further developed by the American psychologist William James and John Stuart Mill, a British philosopher.

As a keen observer of nature, Bonnet identified numerous patterns and interesting phenomena. He also found that leaves on a plant stem are arranged to match the Fibonacci sequence. He was interested in how math could be used to describe patterns in nature. 

His work was largely forgotten until it was rediscovered in the early twenty-first century.

1. Bonnet, C. (1789). Betrachtung über die Natur. W. Engelmann
2. Bonnet, C. (1755). Essai de psychologie. Londres.
3. Mollon, J., Takahashi, C., & Danilova, M. (2022). What kind of network is the brain? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 26. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/
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Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in Geneva on 28 June 1712, was one of the most important philosophers of the Enlightenment. His most influential works were Discourse on Inequality and The Social Contract. 

The strongest man is never strong enough to be always master, unless he transforms his power into right, and obedience into duty.

Rousseau, J.-J. (1762). The social contract. Book I. Chapter III. https://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/socialcontract/full-text/book-i-chapter-iii/

The call of the UN Secretary-General for societies worldwide to work on social contracts, addressing profound changes in modern society, renewed the relevance of Rousseau’s thinking. His Social Contract will be important reading as we try to answer critical questions about modernity and our future. 

According to Rousseau, social contracts are not formal contracts signed on the dotted line by all citizens. They are representations of the general will of all citizens around a few key principles. A process in which citizens regularly participate in public debates and decision-making is at the core of a social contract. It is much more than an occasional vote. 

Rousseau’s social contract is demanding on citizens. It requires being very involved in politics and always learning more about how to be a good citizen. 

His home city, Geneva, has come close to his ideal of a lively and engaging democracy.

Rousseau also argued that sovereignty stays with individuals, not the state. This idea could be important in the current talk about digital sovereignty, which usually means that states have control over digital networks and data. If we apply Rousseau’s thinking, digital sovereignty should be based on a person’s right to control their own data and digital assets. 

The question of a social contract was popular among other Enlightenment thinkers.

Hobbes, for example, in his Leviathan proposed a less demanding form of the social contract on citizens than Rousseau’s (1). Citizens were supposed to give their natural rights to a sovereign (state) in exchange for the state guaranteeing their safety. 

1. Hobbes, T. (1651). Leviathan. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/hobbess-leviathan