#technological-skepticism

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fromBig Think
2 weeks ago

The grim truth about the "good old days"

When Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, declared in 1995 that "the Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race," he was voicing a sentiment that now circulates widely online. Rose-tinted nostalgia for the preindustrial era has gone viral, strengthened by anxieties about our own digital era, with some claiming that modernity itself was a mistake and that "progress" is an illusion. Medieval peasants led happier and more leisurely lives than we do, according to those who pine for the past.
History
Artificial intelligence
Early internet polarization between skeptical caution and exuberant prediction mirrors current polarized responses to artificial intelligence, repeating similar mistakes about pace and impact of change.
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