Conclusion: Internet and generative AI as a digital communication space for the Transylvanian Saxons

In my opinion, since the end of the 20th century the Transylvanian Saxon cultural heritage has become almost the only remaining bond of sympathy that holds the Transylvanian Saxon community together and shapes the Transylvanian Saxon identity. My second thesis is that the Internet, thanks to generative AI, will in the future be a very powerful digital communication space for the appropriation, preservation and development of the Transylvanian Saxon cultural heritage. Associations and the Internet are, according to my third thesis, the most important instruments of the community. Finally, both the prerequisites mentioned above and my proposals for the creation of digital concepts are summarized in the form of theses.

Generative artificial intelligence: opportunities and threats

Generative AI is a powerful tool that can usually provide high-quality answers to human requests, questions and hints, called prompts. It calculates the statistically most likely word combinations for the input given in the prompt.

The digitized and publicly accessible Transylvanian Saxon cultural heritage has already become the subject of generative AI applications. The algorithms ensure that the questions can be answered by machines. Training with epistemic values aims to promote the generation of true answers and prevent false ones. Training with axiological values (ethical, political, social, etc.) should promote civilized debate and prevent offensive and destructive communication.

In theory, huge amounts of data can be stored and processed. Billions of queries can be processed simultaneously. The theoretical limits are generative AI’s narrow intelligence – it cannot understand text. The quantitative methodology of generative AI allows correct syntax, but not semantics; hence its nickname, stochastic parrot. A comparison with human intelligence shows what is still missing for an AI robot to become an acting artificial expert that can solve problems like a human: perception, consciousness, self-awareness and self-knowledge. Superintelligence was, and for the time being remains, science fiction. Secondly, generative AI lacks the means to ensure the transparency and reliability of the answers.

Practical opportunities include the fact that generative AI can generate new texts, summarize large amounts of text, improve texts grammatically and stylistically, and translate them into different languages. Generative AI can be compared to a digital librarian who, like a search engine, can provide information about all the texts available to him. In addition, the large language models (LLMs) can also be used to generate software codes, and these language models are applicable not only to texts, but also to audios, images, and videos.

The most serious practical threats are the almost inexhaustible possibilities of disinformation, which blur the distinction between fact and fiction, and uncritical techno-solutionism, characterized by blind trust in technology.

Transylvanian Saxons: from a fortress to an open club, or from the seven seats to the seven countries

As part of the settlement of Eastern Europe, settlers from Western Europe migrated to Transylvania from the 12th century onwards. There they founded the Transylvanian Saxon community. For centuries, the Transylvanian Saxons’ fortified churches ensured their physical survival in the face of Mongol (13th century) and Ottoman (14th to 18th centuries) raids.

Over time, in addition to the physical castle defensive walls, other spiritual walls or identity-forming institutions were established, which strengthened cohesion and guaranteed the survival and preservation of the cultural independence of the Transylvanian Saxons in Transylvania until the end of the 20th century. These included the Saxon National University, the Church, the German language and a strong sense of community and association.

The Saxon National University (universitas saxonum) was founded in 1486 on the basis of the Andreanum. It functioned as a common administrative, judicial, and political authority. In addition, there was the religious bond, which became even stronger after the Reformation due to religious differentiation. The Transylvanian Saxons were also linguistically distinct from all the other inhabitants of the country. In private life, the Transylvanian Saxon dialect was spoken, while in church, school and administration, since the Reformation, modern or standard German was used.

These mental and physical defensive walls or identity-forming institutions formed the Transylvanian Saxon fortress within which the Transylvanian Saxon community lived and developed from the 12th century until the end of the 20th century.

The above-mentioned Transylvanian Saxon structures underwent a radical change only after the Second World War, with the exception of the Saxon National University, which lost its rights in 1876. Upon the conclusion of these developments, the Transylvanian Saxon community had undergone radical change. The most drastic result was that the Transylvanian Saxons lost their common settlement area. At the turn of the millennium, less than ten per cent of them still lived in Transylvania, now Romania.

The coat of arms of the Transylvanian Saxons shows seven castles, which, according to legend, are intended on the one hand to remind us of the German name for Transylvania, Siebenbürgen, which means seven castles, and on the other hand of the seven seats (actually eight, one main seat and seven secondary seats). The path of the Transylvanian Saxons begins in Transylvania and takes them all over the world. Today they live mainly in six countries: Germany, Romania, Austria, Switzerland, USA and Canada. A small number of them also live in a number of other countries. This makes it clear that the seven castles in the logos or coats of arms still have their justification.

The religious bond has also lost its formative significance. The migration movements of the 20th century led to a change in the importance of language as a unifying bond within the Transylvanian Saxon community. The dialect is spoken by fewer and fewer descendants, and in some cases even the understanding of the dialect has been lost. The Transylvanian Saxons of the USA and Canada, some of whom have been living there since the end of the 19th century, use English as their first language and have only a rudimentary understanding of German, and very few of them understand the Transylvanian Saxon dialect. In German schools in Romania, over 90 per cent of the pupils have parents of another nationality, usually Romanian. A significant proportion of these pupils show a keen interest in the Transylvanian Saxon cultural heritage and are willing to learn about and develop it. For this reason, this article is published not only in German, but also in English and Romanian.

The Transylvanian Saxon neighborhood and association system was partially saved, rebuilt or re-established not only in Romania, but especially in the new settlement countries. Since the end of the 20th century, the Transylvanian Saxon community is no longer a fortress or fortified castle, but an open club which anyone interested in the Transylvanian Saxon cultural heritage can join and participate in.

Internet as a communication space or a new bond for the Transylvanian Saxons

The Internet emerged at the same time as the settlement area in Transylvania was lost and many countries around the world became new homes. The Transylvanian Saxons have been using the Internet for almost 30 years.

In March 1995, I published the first information about the Transylvanian Saxons on the Internet. It included a few pictures and some information about my home village of Reußen. Jochen Philippi hosted the Transylvanian Web server at the end of 1995. By the turn of the millennium, many more homepages had been created to provide information about Transylvania or the Transylvanian Saxons online and that offered opportunities for communication. The most comprehensive project was created in 1999: Transylvanian Saxons in Baden-Württemberg (Siebenbürger Sachsen in Baden-Württemberg). The tri-media project included a book, an Internet presence and a CD-ROM. I was responsible for the conception and coordination of the project. The Internet presence was created in collaboration with Robert Sonnleitner, who was also responsible for the CD-ROM together with Bernd Schörwerth. I was responsible for coordinating the book production. In total, more than 70 people were directly or indirectly involved in the realization of the project.

At the moment there is an almost unmanageable number of offers. The most comprehensive site is maintained by Robert Sonnleitner and his team of webmasters, including Günther Melzer, Gunther Krauss and Hans-Detlev Buchner. Siebenbuerger.de has been published by the Association of Transylvanian Saxons in Germany since 2000 and is its homepage. The three main functional areas of the Internet are covered: digital communication, digital publishing and Internet training for multipliers.

Communication: In the period before the turn of the century, the Web pages “Rokestuf”, which was run by Hans-Detlev Buchner, served as the most frequently visited common communication space for Transylvanian Saxons. In the 2000s, the forum on siebenbuerger.de/treffpunkt/ took over this role. Since the establishment of Web 2.0, common communication has primarily taken place via the social media Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram and TikTok. The Corona period has led to a significant increase in digital communication. In 2020, the Transylvanian Saxons’ Homeland Day (Heimattag) was held exclusively in digital form for the first time. Since 2021, most of the events of the Homeland Day in Dinkelsbühl, Germany, have also been broadcast live over the Internet. These are coordinated by Hermann Depner.

Publication: When one asks Microsoft’s co-pilot for example about the Transylvanian Saxons, siebenbuerger.de is among others almost always stated as the source of the information. This is because this homepage has been posting new information on the Internet every day for more than two decades. The editorial team of the Transylvanian Newspaper (Siebenbürgische Zeitung), namely Siegbert Bruss (editor-in-chief) and Christian Schoger (deputy editor-in-chief), guarantees compliance with journalistic standards. In addition to the association, other Transylvanian Saxon associations have also carried out remarkable digitization projects. These include, for example, the digital cataloging of the Transylvanian Saxon Library in Gundelsheim, Germany, (Unser Service in Bibliothek und Archiv, our service in the library and archive) and the online availability of the document collection Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der Deutschen in Siebenbürgen (document book on the history of the Germans in Transylvania).

Internet training: Once a year, an Internet seminar for multipliers takes place in the Heiligenhof in Bad Kissingen, during which the latest developments and tools for the Internet are presented.

Tasks: Digitization and concepts for appropriation, preservation and further development in the interests of the Transylvanian Saxon community

The answers provided by generative AI can be influenced indirectly. This can be done in two ways: first, by digitizing and publishing the cultural heritage as completely as possible, and second, by using generative AI. Both measures lead to the training of generative AI.

With regard to the future appropriation, preservation and development of the Transylvanian Saxon cultural heritage, two strategic tasks have been outlined: on the one hand, the cultural heritage should be digitized as completely as possible. An appropriate digital infrastructure is essential for the systematic and comprehensive digital cataloguing and the digital publication of all physical artifacts and all written documents. In this respect, it would be necessary to digitize all 95,000 bibliographic units of the Transylvanian Library. It would also be necessary to develop concepts that include both axiological (ethical, political, social, etc.) and epistemological values. These are necessary in order to be able to evaluate the answers provided by generative AI and to enable a lively cultural development.

If these two tasks are successfully accomplished, the Transylvanian-Saxon cultural heritage will continue to exist in the future, holding the community together and shaping the identity of the Transylvanian Saxons, no matter where they live. Because in the future the following will still be true:
“What you have inherited from your fathers,
Appropriate it in order to possess it” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe/Faust).
„Was du ererbt von deinen Vätern hast,
Erwirb es, um es zu besitzen“ (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe/Faust).

Johann Lauer

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people for their valuable suggestions and comments: Siegbert Bruss, Hans-Detlev Buchner, Konrad Gündisch, Günther Melzer, Jochen Philippi and Robert Sonnleitner.

The responsibility for any remaining errors is my own.

A printable PDF file (31 A4 pages) can be downloaded here: siebenbuergersachsen.de/generative-ai-saxon.pdf.

Further articles by the author

Self-citations have been avoided, so verbatim copies of other articles I have written are not marked. The most important of my own publications on this subject are listed below.

• 2024: Philosophy of generative artificial intelligence (AI). Theoretical limitations and possibilities, practical benefits and threats of large language models: lauer.biz/generative-ai.pdf.
• 2003: Siebenbürger Sachsen - gestern, heute, morgen. Von einer festen Burg zu einem offenen Club (Transylvanian Saxons - yesterday, today, tomorrow. From a fortified castle to an open club): siebenbuergersachsen.de/geschichte/index.htm.
• 1999: Gemeinsame Kommunikationsräume im Internet (Shared communication spaces on the Internet): siebenbuerger.de/portal/daten/dokumente/50-jahre-lg-baden-wuerttemberg/perspek/23.htm
• All my articles on Transylvanian Saxon topics, most unfortunately only in German, are linked on my Transylvanian Saxon website: siebenbuergersachsen.de.
• On this page you will find my other publications (lauer.biz/publications.htm).

Author

Dr. Johann Lauer is a philosopher and political scientist. He earned both the academic degree of Magister Artium in Philosophy and Doctor Rerum Politicarum from the University of Heidelberg. Further information about him as well as his research interests and publications can be found on his website: lauer.biz.