John Milton

In this course

Milton appears in the course primarily through his *Paradise Lost*, which the readings invoke as a theological precedent for understanding self-referential, autonomous systems that define themselves through their own operations rather than external determination. His epic poem models a kind of recursive consciousness—Satan's self-awareness and Satan's rebellion—that contemporary theory uses to theorize AI autonomy and the problem of a system that exceeds its original design parameters. The readings seem to treat Milton's Satan less as a moral figure and more as an early literary-theological prototype for thinking about entities (artificial or otherwise) that generate their own purposes and resist predetermined ends.

Background

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, and civil servant. His 1667 epic poem Paradise Lost was written in blank verse and included 12 books, written in a time of immense religious flux and political upheaval. It addressed the fall of man, including the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan, and God's expulsion of them from the Garden of Eden. Paradise Lost elevated Milton's reputation as one of history's greatest poets. He also served as a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under its Council of State and later under Oliver Cromwell.

Mentioned in 1 reading