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August 2023
Telegraph Doomers of the 19th Century - Part 1
Like the web, telegraphy brought rapid changes in society along with very familiar anxieties and criticisms.
 • 
Louis Anslow
2
July 2023
Photocopiers Terrified the Publishing World
“What Hath Xerox Wrought” asked a 1976 Time Magazine headline, the proceeding article prompted readers to imagine if: “some inventive and omnipotent god…
Published on NEWART • 
The Moon Landing was Opposed by Majority of US
Today marks the 54th anniversary of the moon landing. In retrospect it has almost unanimous support and adoration in the US: pleasing the left as an…
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Louis Anslow
3
When the Walkman was Banned
Surrendering an entire sensory input to wearable technology has always elicited strong responses: from Google Glass, to Oculus Rift and most recently…
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Louis Anslow
4
June 2023
The Unabomber was an AI Doomer (Obviously)
Ted Kaczynski is dead. In this moment of hysteria about AI And its impact on civilisation, it is inevitable that debates about the merits of the…
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Louis Anslow
4
Art Has Always Been Artificial
From paint in tubes to typewriters to photography to digital art, the history of creativity is a history of disruptive technologies.
Published on NEWART • 
The Original AI Doomer: Dr. Norbert Wiener
Long before Geoffrey Hinton and Eliezer Yudkowsky sounded warnings about artificial intelligence, there was Dr. Norbert Wiener in the 1950s and 60s…
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Louis Anslow
3
May 2023
March 2023
Is AI Fear this Century’s Overpopulation Scare?
“Sometime in the next 15 years, the end will come.” Reading this in 2023, you could be forgiven for thinking these words came from an artificial…
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Archie McKenzie
12
Robots Have Been About to Take All the Jobs for 100 Years
We will be exploring the history of fears about technological unemployment.
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Pessimists Archive
 and 
Louis Anslow
2
A Warning About AI from 1863 (!)
The Inspiration for Dune's Butlerian Jidhad
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Pessimists Archive
3
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