Artificial Intelligence: Ars Notoria and the Promise of Instant Knowledge

John records that the Ars notoria was especially attractive because he could not afford all the books needed for his studies, nor the many lectures. He seems to have abandoned his official course, wishing to take advantage of the promise of knowledge of all the sciences, and devoted himself to working with the Ars. He even used the Ars to teach his younger sister Latin and introduce her to magic. He believed he had worked out how to make the rituals work — and followed one (unnamed) ritual for a whole lunar month, ending correctly on the night before the new moon. That night, John experienced a disturbingly ambiguous vision, in which three figures (whom he at first thought to be the Trinity) ordered him to continue using the book for a further eight days. Further troubling visions ensued, in which arrogant figures demanded worship — something that was clearly against true religion. Gradually it became clear to John that the book hid invocations to demons within what appeared to be beautiful prayers. And yet, like any addict, John found it almost impossible to give up the Ars notoria completely; it was only when the visions became directly life-threatening that the Virgin, with St John the Evangelist as her intermediary, appeared and made it clear that, as John says, “the Ars notoria was deeply evil”.