Pessimists Archive Newsletter

Pessimists Archive Newsletter

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Thomas Jefferson Hated Kids Reading Novels
Over two hundred years ago - in 1818 - Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter in which he communicated his distaste for ‘kids these days’ reading too many…
 • 
Louis Anslow
The War on Internet Phone Calls
When long distance telephone companies tried to thwart online telephony
 • 
Louis Anslow
1
When Hollywood Union Members Embraced Artificial Music
In 1929, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) railed against the growing trend of recorded music in movie theaters instead of live musicians - a…
 • 
Louis Anslow
1
The 1800s Had 'Brainrot' Too!
The Oxford Dictionary just added "brainrot" as its newest official word—a tongue in cheek term for consuming too much short-form social media content.
 • 
Louis Anslow
The 1774 Novel Blamed for Youth Suicide
The Sorrows of Young Werther was blamed for a supposed youth suicide epidemic
 • 
Louis Anslow
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The Forgotten War on Beepers
 • Louis Anslow
8
Robots Have Been About to Take All the Jobs for 100 Years
 • Louis Anslow and Pessimists Archive
10
STUDENTS FLEE FIELD AS COMPUTER 'FAD FADES'
 • Pessimists Archive
Why Steve Wozniak Dismissed PCs and Steve Jobs Didn't
 • Louis Anslow
6

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The 'War of the Worlds' Panic was Anti-Radio Propaganda
Radio was a new competing medium, so newspapers invented a panic to blame it for
 • 
Louis Anslow
8
Einstein Blamed Automation for the Great Depression
Not even Einstein was immune from the lump of labor fallacy...
 • 
Louis Anslow
The 1912 War on Fake Photos
Concern about deceptively edited photos feels like a very modern anxiety, yet a century ago similar worries were being litigated...
 • 
Louis Anslow
The Eiffel Tower was Called Techno-Dystopian
The Eiffel Tower is just as iconic of France as croissants and baguettes, and equally emblematic of Paris, standing alongside landmarks like Notre-Dame…
 • 
Louis Anslow
Skateboarding: from Nuisance to Olympic Sport
Skateboarding was considered a silly and childish phenomenon for much of its existence, its emergence in the late 1950s would see opposition almost…
 • 
Louis Anslow
2
When the Surgeon General Warned About Pac-Man
This week U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy published an op-ed in The New York Times calling for a ‘Warning Label on Social Media Platforms’, this…
 • 
Louis Anslow
2
The New York Times Banned Word Games Before Embracing Them
The following newsletter is syndicated from a 2022 BigThink.com article we wrote inspired by The New York Times acquisition of Wordle. In April it was…
 • 
Louis Anslow
2
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