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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

First time machines mogged mathematicians? 1976. When the ‘four color theorem’ was solved via computer mathematicians like Paul Halmos said: “the present proof relies in effect on an Oracle, and I say down with Oracles! They are not mathematics.”

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"We can be humble and live a good life with the aid of the machines, or be arrogant and die." - Dr. Norbert Wiener, 1949 newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/the-origin...

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

King Charles jumping on AI doomer bandwagon, he can’t resist a good panic!

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

2019: “GPT2 is groundbreaking in two ways. One is its size, says Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s research director. The models “were 12 times bigger, and the dataset was 15 times bigger and much broader” than the previous state-of-the-art AI model”

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

"The possible consequences of developments in nuclear physics were easier to predict in 1939, than are the possible consequences of gene transfer in 1974." (The Daily Telegraph, 1974)

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

"The art of printing can be of great service in so far as it furthers the circulation of useful & tested books; but it can bring about serious evils… …it will, therefore, be necessary to maintain full control over the printers” - Pope Alexander VI, 1501

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Happy Labour Day! In 1900 child labourers went on strike, novel reading was blamed: “Literary pabulum” dealing with “the rise from poverty to steam yachts” helped one boy convince others they “were being ground beneath the heels of financial despotism”

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

1845: Man defends giving kids newspaper “There's a false opinion.. ..in regard to the influence of newspapers upon minds of children. An objection of the most silly character.” OBJECTION: Kids would "learn too much.. ..they'd become dissatisfied with home & want to go forth in world"

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

A snapshot of concerns in first decade of 20th century.

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Parents yearn for the good old days of childhood for their kids, not realizing that was a brave new world for their parents.

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

“The men are spending too much time in looking up two-toed sloths and three-lettered Australian birds or attempting to tune in on Honolulu," - 1924

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

116 years ago - in 1910 - The New York Times reported on a case involving arson committed by a 12-year-old blamed on moving pictures

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

In the year 2000 Japan put PS2 under export controls. Anyone taking more than one out of the country risked a 5 year prison term.

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

A 1956 cartoon satirizing the lump of labor fallacy

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Before NYC prevented Waymo, it prevented Underground Railroads The year is 1866, the recently opened London Underground was a roaring success, a year later a similar project was proposed in New York City, Omnibus & Railroad lobby made sure it was stopped

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

In 1948 there were calls for a 21 age limit on pinball machines in Moline, Illinois. A judge suggested it be lowered to 16.

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

When the British had a moral panic about VHS movies: “Findings by the parliament inquiry group published yesterday indicate that nearly half the children aged between seven and 16 in England and Wales, have watched video "nasties" featuring sadistic sex and horrific violence.” - The Guardian, 1984

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

✅ Thanks for joining the movement newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/the-forgot...

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

No one show this to Keir Starmer (1982)

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

2026: A censorious U.K. law driven by moral is easily circumvented by kids 1985: A censorious law driven by moral panic is easily circumvented by kids

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

In 1908 the Lancet called for an 18+ age limit on reading in bed for U.K. children.

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Stoking fears of mass job loss from automation is good way to tank consumer sentiment, which is good way to crash economy, which is good way to cause mass unemployment Could this self-fulfilling doomsday prophecy have been a bigger factor in Great Depression than we’ve realized?

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Meet the Sad Wives of Radio Are you married to a man who’s obsessed with radio? I’m so, so sorry sorry. (1929)

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

140 years ago in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (1886)

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

An inspiration for Ehrlich's 'The Population Bomb'? He visited India one "stinking hot night" & was grossed out by a "hellish" scene of "defecating & urinating" "beggers." Can you say neo-colonialist white saviour complex?

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

“Persons who listen to the radio from dawn to dusk suffer from the disease 'radio perpetuum', a slow but sure softening of the brain” - The Cincinnati Enquirer, 1943

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

"Wireless waves are making men more feminine and women more masculine, according to Miss Mary Strachan, a reputable psychologist, who thinks wireless induced etheric disturbances are responsible for some of the vagaries of modern youth" - El Paso Herald, September 15, 1925

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

1926: motors, bands and radio blamed for low church attendance

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

100 years ago a Baltimore college banned radio sets due to impact on sleep and loss of ‘pep’ among students (SF Examiner, 1926)

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

“Should the flapper, with her elaborate make-up, her daring clothes, her bold and confident carriage, be suppressed as a menace to the nation's morals, or celebrated as its chief claim to art and beauty?” - 1921

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

“HAVE you an automobile? If so, you probably have an automobile eye. This is the opinion of Dr. William S. White” - Chicago Tribune, 1910

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

1899: Minister writes to police re female cyclists, Capt. responds they "wear shorter dresses than the laws of morality and decency permit" Woman retorts he “must be very hard up for subjects. Perhaps he considers that he has conquered the devil in his own dominions.”

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

1896 @nytimes.com article reports on book sellers blaming the bicycle boom on falling book sales

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

1900: Librarian says free libraries = too much reading “Great care must be exercised by parents to see that their children do not read too much” “When visiting a school recently 3 pupils in one room were noticed reading books under their desks"

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

The downsides of new things are an indictment. The downsides of old things are endearing.

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

In 1913 the creator of Kellogg’s corn flakes predicted what babies would look like in the 21st century…

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

You either die a disruptor, or live long enough to see yourself become an incumbent

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

2026 new year resolutions : cycle, read, play chess MORE 1926 new year resolutions: cycle, read, play chess LESS

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

People take the best of yesterday and compare it to the average/below average of today and present it as evidence of a decline from the good old days. This fallacy needs a name. The Apex-Average Fallacy?

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

193 years ago Henry Colburn observed: “objects of the highest importance to mankind, on their first appearance, are slighted and condemned. Posterity smile at the ineptitude of the preceding age, while it becomes familiar with those objects, which that age so eagerly rejected”

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

Happy Birthday Google For many of your 27 years you were called a lazy vice. Finally you have attained the status of a thoughtful virtue of the good old days. 🥂 🥳

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Rolling Stone, 20 years ago: - There are too many virgins! - How will Apple keep growing? - Vaccines cause autism?!?

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Pessimists Archive @pessimistsarc.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

They said this about the bicycle in 1893 predicting the "evolution of a round-shouldered, hunched-back race"

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