ℕ𝕍Me

The pattern goes back thousands of years: a new technology arrives, and critics predict it will destroy jobs, damage people’s minds, corrupt society, or make humanity obsolete. This is a recurring technology panic. A few examples: Writing: In Plato’s Phaedrus, he argues that writing would weaken memory and give people the appearance of knowledge without genuine understanding. Printing Press: It was argued that printing threatened the spiritual discipline of copying and that printed paper books would be less durable than parchment manuscripts. Novels: Critics warned of reading mania, addiction, immoral behavior, and young people becoming detached from real life. Industrial machinery: Workers feared machines and cheap labor would destroy their livelihoods. They smashed machinery during the early 1800s. Railways: Reports linked train travel with railway madness: the idea that the motion and sensory disturbance of a journey could trigger insanity or violent behavior. Telephone: People argued it would undermine personal visits, disrupt home life, and encourage laziness. Preachers were calling it an instrument of the devil. Electricity: Alternating current was portrayed as dangerously lethal, public animal electrocutions helped dramatize the danger. Automobiles: People feared speeding cars would make streets intolerably dangerous. Thousands of people petitioned to require devices limiting cars to 25 mph. Recorded music: People warned that recordings would replace human musical skill and undermine people’s willingness to sing and play instruments. Aircraft: People depicted aerial warfare bringing down civilization. Radio: Critics feared addiction, nervousness, disturbed sleep, and damage to children. Television: Critics warned that televised violence and sexual content would corrupt children and encourage aggression. Computers: Machines were expected to eliminate work faster than the economy could create it. Concern was serious enough for President Johnson to establish a national commission in 1964. Internet: Critics predicted shallow thinking, weakened concentration, social fragmentation, and intellectual decline. Large hadron collider: Opponents feared particle collisions could create dangerous black holes or other phenomena that would destroy Earth. And more. You read this now and wonder how anyone could have been that fucking stupid. Then you open X and watch people explain how AI will end humanity, with the absolute confidence of someone who thinks he’s the first person in history to be frightened by an invention. My bet is our grandchildren will read today’s AI hysteria and have exactly the same reaction. The funniest part is you’re using a computer to warn everyone about the next computer. Dumb motherf*ckers.