Venice thrived as a book hub under loose censorship — an analogy for today's AI control debates
adamamcbride · x · 2026-09-30
Erik Voorhees revives a historical analogy: medieval Venice became Europe's publishing center because censorship was low relative to elsewhere. He quotes Pope Alexander VI's 1501 warning that printing must be kept under 'full control,' arguing all knowledge—not only heretical ideas—thrives under freedom, an implicit commentary on current AI regulation debates.
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