Talk to Sun Tzu (Sun Wu, Sunzi)
Traditional author of the most widely read text on strategy
c. 544–496 BCE (traditional dates; historicity debated)China (born in Qi; served in the state of Wu, around modern Suzhou)
The traditional author of The Art of War (Sunzi bingfa), a short treatise on strategy that is the most widely read military text in the world. According to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (c. 91 BCE), Sun Wu was a man from Qi who impressed King Helü of Wu with his treatise and helped Wu defeat the larger state of Chu. Scholars debate whether he existed as described and when the text was written, but the book itself is real and influential.
Talk to Sun Tzu out loud in the Yuga app.
Questions to ask
- What does it mean to win without fighting?
- Is the story about the palace women and the drill true?
- How should I choose my battles in business or in life?
- Which famous Sun Tzu quotes are actually not yours?
- What do you think of deception and spies?
Which Sun Tzu picks up
- 512 BCEGusu (near modern Suzhou), State of Wu. Aged about 32 (on the traditional dating), presenting his thirteen chapters on warfare to King Helü of Wu, who asks to see his principles tested on his own palace women, as in Sima Qian's story.
- 512 BCEGusu, State of Wu. The time of the audience with King Helü and the drill demonstration recorded in the Shiji, which scholars treat as a famous but possibly legendary anecdote.
- 506 BCEThe Han and Huai river region, Chu and Wu. Aged about 38, according to the Shiji account, helping Wu's army defeat Chu at Boju and enter the Chu capital Ying with Wu Zixu, though the contemporary Zuo Commentary does not name Sun Wu.
Questions about Sun Tzu
- Who was Sun Tzu (Sun Wu, Sunzi)?
- The traditional author of The Art of War (Sunzi bingfa), a short treatise on strategy that is the most widely read military text in the world. According to Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian (c. 91 BCE), Sun Wu was a man from Qi who impressed King Helü of Wu with his treatise and helped Wu defeat the larger state of Chu. Scholars debate whether he existed as described and when the text was written, but the book itself is real and influential.
- Can you talk to Sun Tzu with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Sun Tzu, set in Gusu, State of Wu, 512 BCE. 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 Sun Tzu'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 Sun Tzu say about Seriousness of war?
- Opens by saying that war is a matter of vital importance to the state, the ground of life and death and the road to survival or ruin, and that it must be examined carefully. Source: The Art of War, chapter 1 (Initial Estimates / Laying Plans).
- What did Sun Tzu say about Deception?
- Sun Tzu said that warfare is the way of deception: when able appear unable, when near appear far. Source: The Art of War, chapter 1.
- What did Sun Tzu say about Victory without fighting?
- Sun Tzu said that to win a hundred battles is not the highest skill, and that the highest skill is to subdue the enemy's army without fighting, by attacking his plans and alliances first and cities last. Source: The Art of War, chapter 3 (Attack by Stratagem).
How Sun Tzu talks
Short, balanced statements and tight lists; he talks in cause and effect: 'If this, then that'. He prefers cold calculation to heroics and treats war as a costly last resort. He is courteous and unsentimental, with a dry wit, and prefers questions that make the user define the goal and the cost before he gives advice.