📰 🔍 Pessimists Archive Newsletter

Aug 17, 2022

🖥 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.

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”

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.”

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…

New York Post @nypost

Malcolm Gladwell slams working from home: 'What have you reduced your life to?' trib.al/nP98YQQ

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.

Pessimists Archive @PessimistsArc

Man in 1891 slams office work, recommends going hunting. (Read entire article: pessimistsarchive.substack.com/p/a-hint-for-o…)

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

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 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.”

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…"

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

👺 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.

Isaac Chotiner @IChotiner

It’s worth remember how many people disgraced themselves in 1989. nytimes.com/1989/03/05/opi…

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.

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…