Rhetoric and Artificial Intelligence

In our inaugural episode of Deep Reading, we dive into Lynette Hunter's foundational 1991 article, "Rhetoric and Artificial Intelligence," which establishes an important connection between classical rhetoric and modern AI that remains relevant even in today's era of generative AI.(If you would like the PDF, just send me a direct message via Substack or Linkedin).Subscribe nowKey Insights from This Episode:The Historical Foundation: Hunter traces the tension between rhetoric and AI back to the 16th and 17th centuries when science began separating itself from the humanities. Thinkers like Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes dreamed of a "pure language" that could precisely represent reality without the messiness of interpretation or context. Sound familiar? This same aspiration drives much of AI development today.