Philosophers and scientists of the past, including Bernard of Chartres and Newton, used the expression “standing on the shoulders of giants” to point to the use of the knowledge gained from the great thinkers before us as an opportunity to make intellectual progress, going beyond the acquisitions of the past.
Human knowledge has become available in various forms throughout history: in ancient libraries such as the mythical one in Alexandria, in encyclopedias beginning with Diderot and D’Alembert, and finally on the Internet.
Today, with Artificial Intelligence, like the thinkers of the past, we can place ourselves in the position of “dwarfs on the shoulders of giants” and draw heavily on all human knowledge.
Operational artificial intelligence is capable of conducting research and producing reports at the behest of humans. In this way, the machine’s encyclopedic knowledge can be used to carry out research and develop projects in various fields of knowledge or work, providing everyone with information that can then be translated into concrete operations.
General artificial intelligence models are like an encyclopedia elevated to the nth power that can be not only consulted but also used to design new, even extremely complex, activities with a holistic view.
Homo Extensus can then take on the capabilities of an “operational encyclopedist”: before developing a project or carrying out research, the AI with his “encyclopedic” knowledge can easily expose what the state of the art is on the indicated topic, and with his “operational” capability is then able to contribute to the drafting of projects or carrying out research.
Italiano