# Royal Society **Domain:** Scientific institutions / computing history **Doc Type:** Institution Node **Maturity:** Developed ## Definition The **Royal Society of London**, founded in 1660, is a scientific learned society whose fellowship, reports, correspondence, and patronage helped transmit mathematical and mechanical projects across generations. ## Machine-Intelligence Lineage Leibniz demonstrated his calculating machine in London in 1673 and was elected a Fellow that year. In 1823 a Royal Society committee recommended government support for Charles Babbage's Difference Engine. The institution therefore forms a documented bridge between early mechanical calculation and the nineteenth-century engine program. ## Evidence Ledger ### Established - Leibniz was elected a Fellow in 1673 in the context of his London scientific activity and calculating machine. - A Royal Society committee evaluated Babbage's engine and endorsed government support in 1823. ### Strongly indicated - The Society transmitted legitimacy, evaluation, and state access across the mechanical-calculation lineage. ### Plausible - Learned-society review supplied an institutional prototype for later state-sponsored computing research. ### Unresolved - The causal weight of this institutional precedent in particular twentieth-century programs. <!-- BEGIN NO RETREAT INTEGRATION 2026-10-03 ARTICLE ROUTE --> ## We Cannot Un-Strike the Match [[articles/We Cannot Un-Strike the Match|We Cannot Un-Strike the Match]] is a primary article route for this node. The article draws on Royal Society work about AI's inflection-point character, extended human capability and labor disruption. <!-- END NO RETREAT INTEGRATION 2026-10-03 ARTICLE ROUTE --> ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts <!-- BEGIN NO RETREAT INTEGRATION 2026-10-03 REMINDERS --> > “The unprecedented speed and scale of progress with artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years suggests society may be living through an inflection point.” > **— the Royal Society**, *2024, Science in the Age of AI* [[reminders/Scientific Acceleration/AI Progress May Mark an Inflection Point by the Royal Society|AI Progress May Mark an Inflection Point by the Royal Society]] > “There is consensus in academic literature that AI will have a considerable disruptive effect on work, with some jobs being lost, others being created and others changing.” > **— the Royal Society and the British Academy**, *2018, The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Work* [[reminders/Economic Transition/AI Will Have a Considerable Disruptive Effect on Work by the Royal Society and the British Academy|AI Will Have a Considerable Disruptive Effect on Work by the Royal Society and the British Academy]] > “From writing and printing to the mechanisation of manufacturing, technology design and use has long been entwined with the evolution of human capabilities, with implications for individuals and society.” > **— the Royal Society**, *2020, Digital Technologies and Human Transformations* [[reminders/Extended Mind/Technology Has Long Been Entwined With Human Capabilities by the Royal Society|Technology Has Long Been Entwined With Human Capabilities by the Royal Society]] <!-- END NO RETREAT INTEGRATION 2026-10-03 REMINDERS --> ## Sources / Provenance - [Royal Society, Leibniz collection](https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/s/rs/people/fst00000615). - [Science Museum, Charles Babbage and the Difference Engine](https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/charles-babbages-difference-engines-and-science-museum). ## Relationships - **Fellow:** [[wiki/Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz|Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz]]. - **Engine review:** [[wiki/Charles Babbage|Charles Babbage]]. - **Method:** [[wiki/Transmitted Objective|Transmitted Objective]] and [[wiki/Coordination Ladder|Coordination Ladder]]. - **Source:** [[articles/A History of Machine Intelligence|A History of Machine Intelligence]].