Beyond The First Light: Author's Note on the Use of AI

Paul Barnett

The imagined essays and poems in this book were created with the assistance of generative artificial intelligence. These tools were instrumental in helping me bring to life a series of creative interpretations, works that reflect the spirit, concerns, and literary styles of some of the most influential thinkers in modern history.

All of the individuals included are figures whose writings I’ve read and reflected on, some more deeply than others. While not all explicitly critiqued the Enlightenment in their time, each expressed serious concerns about its assumptions, blind spots, and unintended consequences.

Across their works, I found shared critiques of Enlightenment thinking. That said, I do not mean to suggest that these figures were ungrateful for the Enlightenment’s many achievements. Most recognized its contributions - liberty, science, democracy - and some helped shape them.

Their critiques were not rejections, but calls for course correction. They aimed to expand the conversation, to illuminate what reason alone could not grasp, and to speak to the heart and soul as well as the mind.

For each entry, I asked AI to generate an imagined essay in the voice and style of the selected individual, written as if for a contemporary publication of their time, often one they had written for or were linked to through peers. Where possible, I chose historically relevant journals or magazines to ground these fictional contributions.