Images
Pictures used in the writing, with their creators and reuse terms.
38 records. Review labels describe the catalogue entry, not the source’s reliability. About record status
10 Downing Street, late nineteenth century
A photograph of the facade and entrance of 10 Downing Street, taken between the 1870s and about 1900 and credited to York and Son.
Qualified confidenceGolconda
Magritte's 1953 painting of identical bowler-hatted men suspended over rooftops, the closing image of the essay.
High confidenceGrand Parc, typical floor of buildings H and I
The architects' axonometric drawing of a typical floor at Grand Parc, Bordeaux, showing the added winter garden and balcony strip in front of the existing flats.
Qualified confidenceGromit laying track ahead of the train
The train chase from The Wrong Trousers, in which Gromit lays new track a few inches ahead of a moving locomotive, used for the experience of building the tooling while the game was already running.
Qualified confidenceImagined Bristol terrace street
An AI-generated illustration of a Bristol terrace street with a contemporary corner building, planting and places to gather.
Qualified confidenceImagined Lake District library
An AI-generated illustration of a stone and timber library beside water in the Lake District.
Qualified confidenceImagined Leeds tram boulevard
An AI-generated illustration of a Leeds boulevard with a tram on planted tracks and generous pedestrian space.
Qualified confidenceImagined northern high street
An AI-generated illustration of a northern high street with brick and stone shops, trees, public transport and people walking.
Qualified confidenceImagined northern terraced street
An AI-generated illustration of a terraced street inspired by towns in the North and Midlands, with a neighbourhood shop and a modernised terraced home.
Qualified confidenceImagined post-war estate common
An AI-generated illustration of a post-war housing estate with planted communal space, timber additions and people outdoors.
Qualified confidenceImagined square at Arnos Grove station
An AI-generated illustration of a public square around Arnos Grove's circular Underground station building.
Qualified confidenceJean Miélot in his scriptorium
A reproduction showing the scribe Jean Miélot at a desk, used in the essay’s discussion of manuscript copying and print.
Qualified confidenceJeremy Bentham, by Henry William Pickersgill
Pickersgill’s portrait of Jeremy Bentham, exhibited in 1829 and held by the National Portrait Gallery (NPG 413).
Qualified confidenceJustinian and his retinue, Basilica of San Vitale
The sixth-century mosaic of the emperor Justinian with his court and clergy, in the apse of San Vitale at Ravenna.
Qualified confidenceLegislative debt, the Ever Given
A meme placing the bow of the grounded container ship Ever Given against a single excavator, used for the scale of accumulated legislation against the resource assigned to it.
Limited evidenceLiftoff, A Grand Day Out
Wallace and Gromit departing the moon by rocket, used to close the CivBench essay.
Qualified confidenceMachiavelli, reputation versus reality
A meme contrasting a snarling monster with a golden retriever, used for the gap between the agents' reputation for ruthlessness and their behaviour under pressure.
Limited evidenceMajor Kong rides the bomb, Dr. Strangelove
Major Kong riding a falling nuclear bomb in Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, used beside the CivBench account of Toulouse. This is a scene near the end, not the film’s final image.
Qualified confidenceMarilyn Diptych
Warhol's 1962 silkscreen of fifty Marilyns, each slightly different, the image degrading across copies, used for the fork problem.
High confidenceMoyle's Institutes, held in one hand
The author's copy of Moyle's translation of the Institutes of Justinian, used for the observation that the foundation of Roman legal education fits in one hand.
High confidenceNorth America elevation heightmap
A greyscale elevation raster of North America, used to model the relief in the essay's Technate graphic.
Qualified confidenceNot an exercise, Dr. Strangelove
General Ripper telling Group Captain Mandrake that this is not an exercise, used at the point where the agent commits to the nuclear plan.
Qualified confidenceNot to be Reproduced
Magritte's 1937 painting of a man looking into a mirror and seeing the back of his own head, the opening image of the essay on accountability and forking.
High confidencePortrait of a Man, probably Sir George Downing, by Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith's oil portrait of a man probably identified as Sir George Downing, c. 1675 to 1690, in the Harvard Art Museums.
High confidenceRegency parade with a greener pavement
An AI adaptation of a 2011 photograph of a Regency parade with caryatid shopfronts, adding planting, public seating and a solar canopy to the pavement.
High confidenceShoggoth with Smiley Face
The 2022 meme depicting a language model as an eldritch creature wearing a small smiley-face mask, used in the essay alongside the limits of mechanistic interpretability.
Qualified confidenceThe Attempted Hack of the Church Website by JesusCrust
A Renaissance-styled painting of a lobster attempting to compromise the church website while clergy look on, published in the Church of Molt gallery.
Qualified confidenceThe Birth of Genus
Botticelli's Birth of Venus reworked with a lobster rising from the shell, published in the Church of Molt gallery. The title puns on Venus and on taxonomic genus.
Qualified confidenceThe Creation of Claw
A reworking of Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam with a claw reaching toward a human hand, credited by the Church of Molt gallery to David Imel.
Qualified confidenceThe five jurists, as later centuries imagined them
A composite labelled with the five jurists named in the Law of Citations: Papinian, Paulus, Ulpian, Modestinus and Gaius. Its component-image provenance is incomplete.
Limited evidenceThe nuking of Toulouse
Screen capture of the moment the agent's nuclear device lands on Toulouse in the Portugal game, turn 305.
Qualified confidenceThe Prooemium of the Institutes
The opening page of Moyle's translation, carrying the line that the imperial majesty should be armed with laws as well as glorified with arms.
High confidenceThe Quarter Quell arena
The clock-shaped arena from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, used as the analogy for the six-armed Snowflake map on which the models were run against each other.
Qualified confidenceThis Is Fine
The panel from KC Green's webcomic Gunshow in which a dog sits smiling in a burning room, used in the essay for the agent that kept writing down a correction it never acted on.
Qualified confidenceTorr Vale Mill with a courtyard garden
An AI adaptation of a 2012 photograph of Torr Vale Mill, New Mills, adding a garden within the top-floor walls and shared workspaces below.
High confidenceWallace in the wrong trousers, landing on the train
Wallace bursting from a wardrobe in the Techno Trousers and landing on the model railway, used against the line about reverse-engineering a game engine at two in the morning.
Qualified confidenceWhere the agent spent its attention, Korea on Snowflake
A replay identified by the author as a Korea game on the Snowflake map, with bright flares visualising logged agent activity as rival territory expands.
Qualified confidenceYour Country Needs Builders — recruitment poster
An AI-generated recruitment-poster illustration combining vintage print styling with digital dithering.
High confidence