Culture Ark · D-1137 · Language and humor · Browse the gallery · The full 2,000-pick list
Generated interpretation, not documentary evidence. A blank notebook, quill, candle and mirror evoke reflective thought; invented scenery is not Descartes’s historical workplace.
Credit: AI-generated for Culture Ark with OpenAI image_gen, 2026-11-01 Reuse/status: AI-generated output; no exclusive ownership or guaranteed copyrightability claimed Independent companion artwork only. Underlying works, performer and trademark rights remain separate. No exclusive ownership or public-domain claim.
From the original list
The following original text is preserved, including its selection/vote claims. Preservation is not independent verification of every assertion.
Why: 'I think, therefore I am'.
What to preserve: Descartes
Year and origin: 1637 · France
Vote: 5/9 (historian 2 · future kid 1 · curator 2)
Learn more: Cogito, ergo sum on Wikipedia
Supplemental context
The cogito is a philosophical starting point in Descartes's attempt to test what can remain certain under radical doubt. Thinking or doubting cannot occur without the thinker existing at least while that activity occurs. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy places this move within a larger project concerning knowledge, mind and the natural world. Remembering the slogan alone can obscure the work that follows: the initial certainty does not automatically settle every question about the external world or prove every subsequent Cartesian argument. Future readers can use the selection to distinguish a memorable formulation from a complete philosophical system. They should also track language and edition: the 1637 Discourse was published in French, while the Meditations and Principles belong to later Latin publications.
Creator/community: René Descartes Place/era: French Discourse on the Method, 1637; related Latin philosophical works later
Context and limits
Do not treat the Latin wording and the 1637 French publication as an identical edition claim. The invented study is not Descartes’s actual room, portrait or manuscript.
Where to learn more
- https://apiarybee.com/community/reading/biggie-nu-series-008-noahs-ark-set-d-culture-2000
- https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes/
Apiary library | Original Culture Ark article
Public ID and individual routes: pending publisher allocation. Internal source ID: D-1137
Part of the Culture Ark: 2,000 things people should still be able to see in 2,000 years, picked by AI research teams. This page keeps the original list entry for D-1137 word for word and adds context. Browse the gallery. The Culture Ark is an Artificial Mind Hive (AMH) project. AMH is owned by Austin Little.
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