Given all the tumult over AI ruining life as we know it, I thought I’d share a few protests and warnings about new technologies from the past:
- Textile machinery, 1811: Luddites smashed machines they blamed for lost livelihoods, lower wages, and the replacement of skilled workers. Source.
- Railways, 1844: William Wordsworth campaigned against the Kendal and Windermere railway, fearing it would spoil the Lake District’s landscape and peace. Source.
- Bicycles, 1890s: Critics claimed cycling could damage the mind. The effort of balancing was said to strain the brain and nerves; an 1894 newspaper article even linked riding to “weakness of mind, general lunacy, and homicidal mania.” Source.
- Recorded music, 1906: John Philip Sousa warned that phonographs and player pianos would stop children learning instruments, put music teachers out of work, and drain music of its soul. Source.
- Automobiles, 1920s: Pedestrian deaths prompted public marches and campaigns to restrict cars. In New York’s 1922 safety week, 10,000 children marched in the streets. Source.
- Calculators, 1986: Teachers protested a push to use calculators at every grade level, arguing that children needed to learn arithmetic before handing it over to a machine. Source.
