From James Watt and Alan Turing to Sam Altman and Artificial Intelligence: the Code, the Hordes, and the Colonial Blindness of History
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: ABSTRACT This study establishes a parallel between technological milestones in human labor and the axes of civilizational conflicts. The transition from physical to mechanical labor in the 18th century (James Watt), complemented by computational logic in the 20th century (Alan Turing) and its modern manifestation through contemporary artificial intelligence (Sam Altman, OpenAI), positions artificial intelligence strictly as a technical instrument, while authorship, concept, and ideological framework remain the unalienable property of the human mind. Building upon this methodological foundation, the study critiques dominant Eurocentric historiography. It analyzes the axis of conquests from Troy and Spanish conquistadorism among the Incas, up to the military-administrative hordes from the Western Volga in the Balkans. Unlike colonial powers that imposed their language by force, the Volga hordes were illiterate nomads who ruled by the sword without bringing their own culture. Instead, facing an advanced indigenous civilization, they took both the literacy and the language from the Balkan indigenous source—just as the Incas adopted the Spanish language, but through education and adaptation rather than native ownership—leaving the native Balkan civilizational code preserved until their final expulsion by Sultan Murad in the 14th century. Furthermore, this historical inversion exposes contemporary manipulations where appropriation claims are made, falsely presenting borrowed indigenous heritage and language as autochthonous to the nomadic newcomers. Keywords: Alan Turing, Sam Altman, artificial intelligence, Volga hordes, Sultan Murad, colonial blindness, autochthony, written code. 1. From Mechanical Labor to Artificial Intelligence The transition of physical labor to machines in the 18th century, led by James Watt’s innovation, fundamentally altered the structure of human husbandry. In the 20th century, Alan Turing provided the theoretical counterpart in the mental sphere by defining the principles of the computational machine and automated logic. In the 21st century, through the infrastructure and development led by Sam Altman and contemporary AI research teams, this process achieves its practical digital materialization. However, modern digital systems possess no sovereign thought of their own. They function as a precise instrument that organizes and translates human thought. The author, the concept, and the research direction remain exclusively the product of human consciousness and direct experience. 2. The Historical Matrix of Conquest: From Troy to the Incas Comparative analysis shows that military incursions across the centuries followed an identical matrix: physical destruction and material plunder, accompanied by complete blindness to ancient symbols and the established written code. The Trojan Area: Commercial and strategic centers were razed to establish a maritime monopoly, yet indigenous craftsmanship and symbolic matrices survived the physical devastation. Spanish Colonization in the 16th Century: Spanish conquistadors brought a violent colonial apparatus to the Incas. Their contribution boiled down to the smelting of gold and the imposition of their own language and religion, while indigenous monumental culture was left beneath the ruins. 3. Deconstruction of the Myth of the "Assimilation" of Volga Hordes Dominant historiographical theses claim that steppe and military tribes from the Western Volga region, upon arriving in the Balkans in the early Middle Ages, "assimilated" into the local population. This thesis contradicts genetic and anthropological facts, as such a process would have left permanent steppe physical traits among the indigenous population. The truth is that these structures operated strictly as military-administrative hordes and clans holding power by force. Their presence ended in the 14th century when they were physically defeated and expelled by Sultan Murad. With their departure, the indigenous people preserved their own ethnocultural and essential foundation. Figure 1: Fragment 239 from the Museum of Bitola (Pelagonia, North Macedonia), displaying the ancient autochthonous written signs and symbols (representing life, woman, man, and family/habitat). This physical artifact documents the preserved indigenous code, standing in stark contrast to the illiterate nomadic structures that arrived later. 4. Language and Literacy as a Fundamental Distinction (The Corrected Paradigm) A crucial difference exists between colonial conquests in the New World and Balkan historical episodes—one that official world historiography systematically bypasses: The Colonial Model (Spain/Incas): The conqueror possesses their own administrative literacy and successfully imposes their language by force upon the conquered territory. The Volga Military-Administrative Model (Balkans): The military-administrative hordes from the Western Volga were totally illiterate and lacked their own developed language for state and administrative governance. Therefore, not only did they take literacy from the Balkans, but they also took the entire language from the Balkan indigenous source—learning and adapting it through Balkan education and exposure in order to survive within a foreign civilizational system. This fundamental difference is suppressed because it shatters the entire Western Eurocentric matrix regarding who "enlightened" whom. Consequently, contemporary historical manipulations often attempt to invert this reality, claiming the newcomers' appropriation as an autochthonous heritage—a distortion driven by political and ideological agendas. Figure 2: The historical continuity of literacy and spiritual tradition in the region, building upon the ancient autochthonous code rather than imported nomadic elements. The true bearer of historical continuity is the indigenous population that preserved the code, not temporary military rulers. Unmasking colonial myths and exposing modern appropriative manipulations liberates scientific thought from dogmas. 5. CONCLUSION The true bearer of historical continuity is not the military rulers who temporarily govern by the sword, but the indigenous people who survived the systems and preserved the code. Unmasking colonial myths, exposing modern appropriative manipulations, and properly defining the role of new digital tools in the 21st century allow the liberation of scientific thought from the dogmas of state and political matrices. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Sincere gratitude is expressed for the collaboration, support, and advisory contribution in the preparation of this study to Jove Golevski, Jasmina Gulevski, and Aleksandar Srpčenski.
Author: Sotirovski, Aleksandar Ivan
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225455402