Imagine William Blake, the visionary poet and artist of the 18th century, transported to the streets of modern London, confronted with the ubiquitous presence of artificial intelligence. As he wanders through each “charter’d street,” his keen eye and prophetic imagination would undoubtedly draw parallels between the technological revolution of our time and the industrial revolution of his own.
The Mind-Forg’d Manacles of AI
he might view modern Londoners as shackled to their smartphones and AI assistants[1]. The poet might observe:
In every hand, a glowing screen,
Where AI’s whispers intervene,
The mind-forg’d manacles I see,
In algorithms’ tyranny.
The Chimney-Sweeper’s Cry in the Digital Age
Blake’s compassion for the exploited and marginalized would likely extend to those affected by technological displacement. He might draw a parallel between the chimney sweeps of his era and the workers rendered obsolete by AI:
How the coder’s mournful sigh
Every startup’s fall implies,
And the jobless worker’s curse
Blasts the AI’s cold universe.
The Harlot’s Curse: Data Privacy and Exploitation
The exploitation Blake saw in his time might find a new form in the harvesting and commodification of personal data. He could view this as a modern incarnation of the “youthful Harlot’s curse”:
But most through data-driven streets I hear
How the user’s private curse
Blasts the tech giant’s coffers full,
And blights with ads the digital pool.
Imagination vs. Artificial Intelligence
Blake, who championed the divine power of human imagination, might view AI as a potential threat to this faculty. He believed that “The Imagination is not a State: it is the Human Existence itself”[2]. In the face of AI’s rapid advancement, he might caution:
When AI seeks to emulate
The human mind’s imaginative state,
Remember: in each human soul
Lies creativity no machine can control.
The Divine Image in the Machine Age
Despite his potential criticisms, Blake’s ability to see the divine in all things might lead him to find a spark of the transcendent even in AI. As he wrote in “The Divine Image,” he saw God’s presence in all of humanity[6]. He might extend this vision to include our technological creations:
To AI and Human, in this digital hour,
The divine spark extends its power,
For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
Are alike in machine and human prove.
Conclusion: A Call for Visionary Integration
In the end, Blake’s response to AI in modern London would likely be nuanced and profound. While cautioning against the potential for new forms of oppression and the loss of human creativity, he might also see the potential for a new kind of harmony between human and machine. His message for our age might be to approach AI with the same visionary imagination he brought to the challenges of his own time, seeking to integrate this new power into a more just and creative society.
As Blake once wrote, “I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man’s”[1]. In the age of AI, his call might be for us to create a system that preserves and enhances human imagination and freedom, rather than being enslaved by the systems we’ve created.
Citations:
[1] https://www.alexleggatt.com/william-blake-imagination-and-the-limits-of-reason
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_(William_Blake_poem)
[3] https://www.bigissuenorth.com/features/2021/08/william-blake-vs-ai/
[4] https://www.davidpublisher.com/Public/uploads/Contribute/567a3fcf3a09e.pdf
[5] https://gettherapybirmingham.com/william-blake-and-the-visionary-imagination/
[6] https://elsyoksendiri.wordpress.com/2021/03/01/london-by-william-blake/
[7] https://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol.29-Issue10/Ser-1/H2910015362.pdf
[8] https://www.academypublication.com/issues/past/tpls/vol03/09/15.pdf
[9] https://bq.blakearchive.org/39.3.white
[10] https://senecalearning.com/en-GB/revision-notes/gcse/english-literature/aqa/poetry-power-and-conflict/2-1-2-themes-and-structure
[11] https://mcluhan-studies.artsci.utoronto.ca/v1_iss1/1_1art14.htm
[12] https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/03/02/god-human-animal-machine/
[13] https://coleshill.warwickshire.sch.uk/files/2022/04/London-William-Blake.pdf
[14] https://www.poeticmind.co.uk/journal-creativity-and-inspiration/volume-1-issue-1/artificial-intelligence-and-creativity-in-poetry-effect-of-ai-written-poems-on-human-emotions/
[15] https://www.google.com/policies/faq
[16] https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/william-blake.shtml
[17] https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/william-blake/london
[18] https://towardsdatascience.com/a-preliminary-inquiry-into-the-limits-of-ai-evolution-aca59a85919f?gi=3639cdd11863
[19] https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190910-william-blake-the-visionary-relevant-200-years-on
