Artificial intelligence and the future of semiotics: An archaeological perspective

Abstract

The encounter of semiotics with artificial intelligence should not have surprised me: for over twenty-five years I have been teaching a course on ‘Semiotics and Computers’ in connection with a research program that always had something to do with artificial intelligence, even before the expression was used. And yet, I must confess that I did feel surprised when I learned that a special issue of Semiotica was being planned on that very subject, and that I was invited to take part in it. My contribution will essentially consist in explaining this reaction. To this end, I need first to indicate how I became involved with semiotics and computers, in the late 1950s. © 1989, Mouton de Gruyter