Real archive quotes about old technologies as Amazon reviews:

Bicycle - ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
“I consider the bicycle to be the most dangerous thing to life and property ever invented'

Telegraph - ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
“10 days brings us the mails from Europe. What need is there for the…

TOO MUCH MUSIC IN AIR NOW - Herald and Review, 1922

complaint from a british general, 1855

the invention of the telegraph was also the invention of paperwork

You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me (1896)

You wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me (1896)

I can't believe Pessimists Archive was right, it really is just the satanic panic

Farmers across the Philippines will now have to rip up their crops after Greenpeace successfully convinces a court to block golden rice cultivation.

This decision will have dire consequences for the lives of millions of children in some of the world's poorest countries.…

Professor today: “IQ is way down”

Professor in 1970s*: “IQ is way down”

Numerate / empirical evidence: “IQ is way up”

—-
* my grandfather, Duke prof, complained students were worse each year - I think all teachers complain about this since forever, yet overall IQ is up…

News are erupting in Germany that the parliament's decision to go through with the nuclear phase-out was partly based on false information that seems to have been deliberately falsified.

cicero.de/innenpolitik/r…

Scott Alexander has a point.

Elites panicking about an artificially stimulated explosion of intelligence in society is a useless analogy to understand modern AI fears! No lessons to be learned.

astralcodexten.com/p/desperately-…

You have to read about the pager panic: newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/the-forgotte…

If

we

don't

save

net

neutrality,

you'll

get

the

internet

one

word

at

a

time.

#savethenet #savetheinternet #netneutrality #onemorevote

🌸🌷It’s publication day!! 🌷🌸 Available for purchase in all good bookshops, online or in-person. Can’t wait for the launch tonight 🥂toppingbooks.co.uk/books/agnes-ar…

How much did the introduction of mobile phones — which crowded out drug-use-inducing pagers — contribute to reductions in teen drug use?

2020:

Sierra Club sues to stop a transmission line from brining clean hydropower from Canada to Maine

2024:

Sierra Club sues the Maine government for not doing enough to combat climate change

A fun anecdote from our latest newsletter: Motorola rallied kids to fight pager bans newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/the-forgotte…

You have to read about the pager panic: newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/the-forgotte…

2022: kids aren’t doing their homework because they’re doing TikTok dances

1933: kids aren’t doing their homework because they’re doing the shimmy

😱Moral Panic Checklist

☑️ Youth Trend
☑️ Worried Parents
☑️ Large new industry
☑️ Angry Incumbents
☑️ 1 Scary Sounding Study
☑️ Sensational Reporting
☑️ Book plugging charlatans
☑️ Posturing Lawmakers
☑️ Non-specific solutions
☑️“It’s different this time”pessimistsarchive.substack.com/p/all-the-time…