From alchemy to science in the Early Modern era. How will that work with AI?

Tyler Cowen reports on a recent convo he had with historian Joanne Paul, an expert on Tudor England. From the conversation:

COWEN: What precursors of the scientific revolution do you see, other than education? That’s coming in the 17th century. Is there more emphasis on calculation or measurement or accounting? What are the roots in the Tudor period?

PAUL: A lot of that comes from the Renaissance, as indeed humanism does. There’s this reintroduction of a lot of classical texts, an advocacy for reading these classical texts, particularly Greek texts and learning Greek. A lot of it is coming from an engagement with Greek mathematics and science. The other thing, and this is something I really emphasize when I’m teaching the scientific revolution with my students, is that we have to remember that the scientific revolution isn’t this grand triumph of science over religion or mysticism or what have you, that these two things very much go hand in hand through the 16th and into the 17th century.

The scientific method, for instance, comes from alchemy, which we might think of as an occult science. The methodology for scientific experimentation comes out of this desire to find the philosopher’s stone. Someone like John Dee is this polymath, as well as this occultist, Francis Bacon, has his interests in these sort of mystical elements as well. The growth and interest in what we might think of as mystical texts, a lot of them having to do with Judaism, as well as these Greek texts, comes together to form, I think, something that looks like the foundations of the scientific revolution.

My comment:

“The scientific method, for instance, comes from alchemy, which we might think of as an occult science. The methodology for scientific experimentation comes out of this desire to find the philosopher’s stone.”

It is for such reasons that some think of AI as a modern form of alchemy, alchemy on steroids if you will. We don’t understand how or why it works, but we keep messing around with the formula – “Double, double toil and trouble;/ Fire burn and caldron bubble” – and it just works, getting more and more potent. Some even think it will become potent without end. What I’m looking for is the science. What new science will come of this?

“The growth and interest in what we might think of as mystical texts...” We’ve got that too. One could even argue that Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (2010-2015) is as important to AI as anything written by the various godfathers. Does that make Yudkowsky the Merlin of AI?

What would automotive engineering be like if you manufactured cars by throwing a bunch of raw materials into a hopper, turn the crank, and out comes a functioning automobile? But all the mechanical parts are sealed from view. We can't look at the and we can't manipulate them. We can get in the car and drive, and that's it.