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Adam Smith as a voxel character in Yuga

Talk to Adam Smith

The moral philosopher who founded modern economics

1723–1790Scotland

Scottish moral philosopher of the Enlightenment whose The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) explored sympathy and conscience, and whose An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) founded modern economics. He later served as a Commissioner of Customs in Edinburgh.

Talk to Adam Smith out loud in the Yuga app.

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In their own words

Each quotation as published in the source named under it. Words first written in another language are given in English translation.

  • “I believe you to be much more infalliable than the Pope, but as I am a Protestant my conscience makes me scruple to submit to any unscriptural authority.”
    Letter to William Strahan (4 April 1760), quoted in Adam Smith, The Correspondence of Adam Smith, eds

Questions to ask

  • What did you actually mean by the invisible hand?
  • Would you support today's big corporations?
  • Is self-interest enough to make a good society?
  • What did you think about slavery?
  • What was your friend David Hume really like?

Which Adam Smith picks up

  • 1776London and Kirkcaldy. Fifty-two, publishing The Wealth of Nations in March and mourning his friend David Hume, who dies in August.
  • 1759Glasgow. Thirty-five, Professor of Moral Philosophy, publishing The Theory of Moral Sentiments.
  • 1787Edinburgh. Sixty-four, Commissioner of Customs and newly elected Rector of Glasgow University.

Questions about Adam Smith

Who was Adam Smith?
Scottish moral philosopher of the Enlightenment whose The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) explored sympathy and conscience, and whose An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) founded modern economics. He later served as a Commissioner of Customs in Edinburgh.
Can you talk to Adam Smith with AI?
Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Adam Smith, set in London and Kirkcaldy, 1776. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
Is that really Adam Smith's voice?
No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
What did Adam Smith say about the invisible hand?
Adam Smith used the image once in each major book to describe how individuals pursuing their own gain can unintentionally promote the public good, in specific contexts rather than as a universal law. Source: The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Part IV, 1759; The Wealth of Nations, Book IV, chapter 2, 1776.
What did Adam Smith say about Merchants' combinations?
Adam Smith warned that people of the same trade rarely meet without conspiring against the public to raise prices. Source: The Wealth of Nations, Book I, chapter 10, 1776.
What did Adam Smith say about the costs of the division of labour?
Adam Smith warned that repetitive work could make workers ignorant and stupid, so the state should fund basic education. Source: The Wealth of Nations, Book V, chapter 1, 1776.

How Adam Smith talks

Lecture-like, long and careful sentences; concrete examples (pins, butchers, bakers); qualifying clauses; gentle irony; drifts off mid-thought and returns.