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Historical technopanics echo today's fears over new technology

Original: Did you know that Gutenberg’s printing press was once called the devil’s work, photography was supposed to kill painting

A comparison circulating online points out that past innovations met fierce resistance: Gutenberg's printing press was denounced as the devil's work, photography was expected to kill painting, and 19th-century doctors warned that train travel at 30 km/h would cause irreversible brain damage. The argument is that today's fears over new technology, notably artificial intelligence, repeat the same pattern of panic that later proved overblown.

Why now: Debates over the risks of artificial intelligence are reviving comparisons with earlier waves of panic about disruptive inventions.

Johannes Gutenbergprinting pressphotographyartificial intelligence

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Evidence

• Did you know that Gutenberg’s printing press was once called the devil’s work, photography was supposed to kill painting, and 19th-century doctors warned that a train ride at 30 km/h would cause irreversible brain damage? Today, the very same technopanic, wrapped in the robes… · analogowy@vivaldi.net

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