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A Running Record of Findings from the Internet / August 1, 2026

Artificial Intelligence: Ars Notoria and the Promise of Instant Knowledge

Anne Lawrence-Mathers traces the medieval Ars notoria, a manuscript that promised scholars supernatural shortcuts to advanced learning — a six-hundred-year-old preview of the same appeal, and the same danger, behind every promise that a shortcut can replace the discipline of actually learning something.

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By Anne Lawrence-Mathers · Public Domain Review

Two figures related to the art of astronomy, from a manuscript of the Ars notoria (c. 1550–1600), via the National Library of Israel
Two figures related to the art of astronomy, from a manuscript of the Ars notoria (c. 1550–1600), via the National Library of Israel
Design

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Arts & Culture

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  3. 25 Photobooks That Define America

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Sound

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  3. French Synthwave Producer Kavinsky Dead At 50

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Collecting

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Document

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  2. Taking Alien Life Seriously: The Origins of Exobiology

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  3. Designing a William Morris–Inspired Wallpaper for the 21st Century

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Film

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