π πΏπππππππππ π°ππππππ Roundup
π Ok, Einstein
Last week was Einsteinβs birthday, generally considered one of the smartest people that ever lived, he wasnβt always right. In the middle of the Great Depression he gave a speech blaming automation for economic collapse.
π Over Booked
This 1891 article discussed the over abundance of books. The piece lamented a βsurplus of books on the market" and said there were "too many writers, too many books published" pointing out that publishers were putting out new books every 2 or 3 days! β
βThe reading world is not large enough to consume all that reading matter.β
π΄ββοΈ Satan on Wheels
To celebrate #womensday we shared this 1895 headline about women riding bicycles, in it a βDoctorβ claimed βSatan inspires women to ride wheels.β An accompanying illustration shows a women in manly attire, donning a top hat while flying a flag made of a pair of bloomers (female cycling trousers.)
βοΈ Alexander Graham Bell
We found this surprising report that the father of the telephone - Alexander Graham Bell - ended up hating it. This was shocking to us and after a number of failed attempts to verify the quote, a Twitter follower shared a letter from Graham Bellβs widow (Mabel Bell) calling out the press for making such claims.
She opened the letter:
βI am begginning to get distressed over the many statements that papers have been publishing of Mr. Bellβs dislike of the telephone.β
After noting some tongue in cheek remarks about wishing heβd never invented the telephone (that may have been misconstrued) she said:
βMr. Bellβs one regret about the telephone was that his wife could not use it.β
(Mabel Bell was deaf) π₯Ί
π³ Techlash 1.0
The bicycle was blamed for numerous and surprising things when they first started to come into common use. The bicycle had its very own techlash in the late 1800s to early 1900s. (Later this year weβll be publishing an interactive timeline of themβ¦)
βοΈ Tweet of the Week
A catastrophic win for the anti-vaxx movement happened this week thanks to a knee jerk reaction from a health committee in Ireland and an irresponsible press writing headlines missing crucial context. The 1998/2021 BBC headlines below is an example of how irresponsible tech/health reporting helps perpetuate technophobic misinformation.
