Platonic Summer Seminar 2025:
PlatoAI

Are you ready to converse with Plato?

We invite you to join us for a groundbreaking seminar exploring the intersection of ancient philosophy and cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence. Our goal is to develop a groundbreaking AI model that can engage in authentic Socratic dialogues, bringing the wisdom of Plato to life.

Why participate?

Be at the forefront of AI and philosophy: Shape the future of AI-assisted learning and philosophical inquiry. Collaborate with world-class experts: Network with leading scholars in Platonism and AI. Design a working prototype of PlatoAI. Contribute to the development of a grant proposal for this ambitious project.

Our vision:
Inspired by Steve Jobs' foresight, we aim to create a digital Plato that can answer questions, offer insights, and stimulate deep philosophical discussions. By feeding an advanced AI with Platonic texts and simulating Socratic discourse, we can bring the great philosopher's ideas into the 21st century.

Steve Jobs prophecised in 1983 during the International Design Conference in Aspen:
"When I was going to school, I had a few great teachers and a lot of mediocre teachers. And the thing that probably kept me out of jail was the books. I could go and read what Aristotle or Plato wrote without an intermediary in the way. And a book was a phenomenal thing. It got right from the source to the destination without anything in the middle. The problem was, you can’t ask Aristotle a question. And I think, as we look towards the next fifty to one hundred years, if we really can come up with these machines that can capture an underlying spirit, or an underlying set of principles, or an underlying way of looking at the world, then, when the next Aristotle comes around, maybe if he carries around one of these machines with him his whole life—his or her whole life—and types in all this stuff, then maybe someday, after this person’s dead and gone, we can ask this machine, Hey, what would Aristotle have said? What about this? [...] Today I can’t ask Aristotle a question. I mean, I can, but I won’t get an answer. My hope is some day, when the next Aristotle is alive, we can capture the underlying world view of that Aristotle in a computer, and some day, some student will be able to not only read the words Aristotle wrote but ask Aristotle a question, and get an answer."

What we'll do:
Develop the PlatoAI project: Outline the technical and philosophical foundations. Write grant proposals. Bring together leading scholars in Platonism and AI.

Overall Goal:
To shift the paradigm of text reading from passive linear reading (criticized by Plato himself in the "Phaedrus") to interactive dialogue with the text.

Specific Goal:
To implement a PlatoAI chatbot based on Plato's dialogues and Testimonia Platonica.

Project Overview:
This chatbot will be trained on a corpus of texts, primarily Plato's dialogues, and will be capable of engaging in conversations as if it were Plato himself. The choice of Plato is deliberate, as he is considered the quintessential philosopher, and his works have served as a foundation for subsequent philosophical thought. Moreover, the dialogic structure of his writings is exceptionally well-suited for training a large language model (LLM). Plato criticizes the traditional linear and monologic structure of texts, advocating for a dynamic and interactive dialogue over the static and lifeless nature of the written word. A dialogue, according to Plato, is an attempt to transcend the limitations of traditional textual formats. However, even a written dialogue is merely a record of a conversation, and not the conversation itself. By creating a chatbot trained on Plato's dialogues, we can address this limitation. Such a chatbot would allow anyone to engage in a conversation with a simulated version of Plato's mind, rather than simply reading his written works. This would revolutionize our interaction with philosophical thought, enabling us to engage directly with the philosopher's mind, rather than relying solely on the preserved texts.

The PlatoAI Model:
PlatoAI will be trained on the 35 extant dialogues of Plato and the Testimonia Platonica, which are records of Plato's unwritten teachings.

Methodology:
The model will learn the dialogic strategies employed by the Platonic Socrates, as analyzed by scholars like Thomas Szlezak. The chatbot will also be trained on the two primary facets of the Socratic persona in the dialogues: the negative, or elenctic, phase, which challenges the interlocutor's beliefs, and the positive phase, which presents Plato's philosophical system through indirect methods.

Functionality:
PlatoAI will be able to engage in dynamic and nuanced conversations, mimicking Plato's thought processes and argumentative style.

Significance:
Nearly 2500 years after Plato's death, technology has finally advanced to the point where we can realize his vision of transcending the limitations of linear text, as expressed in the "Phaedrus". PlatoAI represents a significant step forward in our understanding and engagement with philosophical thought. By enabling users to interact directly with a simulated version of Plato's mind, we can deepen our appreciation of his ideas and explore new avenues of philosophical inquiry. In essence, PlatoAI aims to create a living, breathing version of Plato's philosophy, allowing us to continue the conversations that he began centuries ago.

If you're passionate about:
Platonism, Artificial intelligence, interdisciplinary research, and shaping the future of philosophy, then join us in Lanckorona!
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