Pessimists Archive is a project to jog our collective memories about the hysteria, technophobia and moral panic that often greets new technologies, ideas and trends.

Endorsements:

Steven Pinker on Twitter

“Pessimists Archive is invaluable in putting today’s tech moral panics in historical perspective.”

https://twitter.com/sapinker/status/1127217607206146052


Marc Andreessen in ‘AI Will Save the World’

“The fine folks at Pessimists Archive have documented these technology-driven moral panics over the decades; their history makes the pattern vividly clear. It turns out this present panic is not even the first for AI.”

Andrew Ng on Twitter

“This is a great website, and documents via news clippings the alarm over many beneficial innovations, such as electricity, bicycles, elevators, radio… …After the current wave of alarm over AI human extinction dies down, I wonder if statements about that will be featured on this website too?”

https://twitter.com/AndrewYNg/status/1720900890683720035


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Fears about old things when they were new

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Fears about old things when they were new.
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