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📰 🔍 Pessimists Archive Newsletter

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📰 🔍 Pessimists Archive Newsletter

Pessimists Archive
Aug 17, 2022
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📰 🔍 Pessimists Archive Newsletter

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🖥 That Won’t Work (1983)

This week MIT shared an amazing clip from 1983 of two experts in computer science debating the future of the home PC. The interviewer asked wether the PC would go the way of the Hula Hoop or CB radio.

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Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
📺 1983 debate about home PC, with comparisons to hula hoop fad. Guy on right says they’ll go mainstream “when we have several million machines interconnected” (the internet!) Guy on left dismisses prediction: “THAT WON’T WORK”
12:57 PM ∙ Aug 9, 2022
2,153Likes639Retweets

Michael Dertouzos, head of MIT’s computer science lab retorted that the PC revolution will really kick off: “when we have several million machines interconnected” envisioning a commercial internet that would usher in a “new way of life.” Joseph Weizenbaum, a pioneering AI researcher who created ELIZA, one of the first AI chatbots - visibly irritated - replied “I quite disagree. I think that won’t work.”

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Weizenbaum then went on to compare PCs to home movie cameras, which he said required good ideas ( a rare thing) and the same would be true for writing computer programs. The irony here, we now carry very personal PCs in our pockets, that are connected to the internet 24/7 and the biggest social network in the world right now (TikTok) centres around amateur video content.


📇 Work from Office Revolution

Malcolm Gladwell ruffled some feathers by casting working from home in a negative light. In 2005 he held a very different view of the practice. We jumped into the archives to see if we could find anyone critique the rise of working from an office…

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New York Post @nypost
Malcolm Gladwell slams working from home: 'What have you reduced your life to?' trib.al/nP98YQQ
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7:49 PM ∙ Aug 5, 2022
2,701Likes460Retweets

We found this fun 1891 article by an office worker - who claimed his familial genes made it an unnatural habitat for him - he advised ‘office men’ go hunting to retain their sanity.

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Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
Man in 1891 slams office work, recommends going hunting. (Read entire article: pessimistsarchive.substack.com/p/a-hint-for-o…)
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Twitter avatar for @nypost
New York Post @nypost
Malcolm Gladwell slams working from home: 'What have you reduced your life to?' https://t.co/pl6Xc0y5xy https://t.co/HDfXF7TXLN
11:16 AM ∙ Aug 11, 2022
25Likes6Retweets

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Self Driving Car

With news of Glasgow making its underground subway fully autonomous, we remembered a report from 1895 in which Glasgow Town Council refused permission to a man who wanted to drive the first horseless carriage in the city.

His reply:

“Those in authority might as well try to beat back the waves of the sea with a broom as try to stem the tide of horseless carriage which are looming in the distance. They are surely coming and ere long they will be running in thousands along our streets.”

Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿👨🏼‍⚖️ 127 years ago (1895) Glasgow Town Council denied request from man to ride first horseless carriage in city: 👴🏻☝🏻Mans reply: "Those in authority might as well try to beat back the waves of the sea with a broom as try to stem the tide of horseless carriages…"
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Twitter avatar for @thomasforth
Tom Forth @thomasforth
TIL: The Glasgow subway will be driverless next year when the new Swiss trains start running. And they've got massive windows at both the front and the back. https://t.co/upzc0kg0xt
1:13 PM ∙ Aug 10, 2022
29Likes13Retweets

👺 Devil’s in the Details

Awful news broke this week of Salman Rushdie having been the victim of an attempted assassination. Thankfully he is alive. The attack saw many people re-examined how ‘The Satanic Verses’ were treated in the past.

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Isaac Chotiner @IChotiner
It’s worth remember how many people disgraced themselves in 1989. nytimes.com/1989/03/05/opi…
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5:03 PM ∙ Aug 12, 2022
6,737Likes1,157Retweets

The book was also a key justification for Iran censoring the internet in 1996, a good reminder of how the internet has made information censorship close to impossible.

Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
"There is stuff on the internet that people have access to that is as offensive as 'The Satanic Verses' and it is updated everyday." - @JZarif (1996) nytimes.com/1996/10/08/wor…
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4:39 PM ∙ Dec 4, 2019
15Likes5Retweets
Twitter avatar for @kapskom
Kapil Komireddi @kapskom
A 1990 Pakistani film depicted Salman Rushdie as a satanic agent of Jews and Hindus out to destroy Islam. He's so evil that he has to be killed by flying Korans. The British refused to certify the film. Rushdie intervened and got the film cleared.
2:26 PM ∙ Aug 13, 2022
6,177Likes1,838Retweets

⭐️ Top Tweets

Twitter avatar for @benedictevans
Benedict Evans @benedictevans
1980s: "PCs are the new CB radio!" 1990s: "The internet is the new CB radio!" 2000s: No-one remembers what CB radio was so we need a new metaphor
Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
📺 1983 debate about home PC, with comparisons to hula hoop fad. Guy on right says they’ll go mainstream “when we have several million machines interconnected” (the internet!) Guy on left dismisses prediction: “THAT WON’T WORK” https://t.co/AYjZgayFDN
6:15 PM ∙ Aug 10, 2022
82Likes28Retweets
Twitter avatar for @Marcissist
Marc Masters 🌵 @Marcissist
In 1982 A branch of the London Musicians Union called for a ban on all synthesizers...because of a Barry Manilow concert.
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2:24 AM ∙ Sep 1, 2019
161Likes37Retweets
Twitter avatar for @PessimistsArc
Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc
Number plates for bikes, a policy idea borrowed from 1874 France https://t.co/UVL7iVyGlx
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Twitter avatar for @GeorgeMonbiot
George Monbiot @GeorgeMonbiot
Oh God, here we go again. If your government is floundering and you need a headline, launch another attack on that deadly threat to civilisation - cyclists. https://t.co/zddkp4tJRT
10:12 AM ∙ Aug 17, 2022
13Likes2Retweets

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1 Comment
Fawzi Ammache
Writes Year 2049
Aug 18, 2022

That man from 1981 was so ahead of his time 😂

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