3 ms·
This feeling of dread seems to occur every time there's a leap forward in technology or another event that threatens to change the world in unpredictable ways.
by starbase 3y ago
This feeling of dread seems to occur every time there's a leap forward in technology or another event that threatens to change the world in unpredictable ways.
In every case, we successfully managed the transition and emerged a more advanced civilization.
People feared domesticated plants, the printing press, the mechanical loom, formal education, radio, the automobile, nuclear tech, and so on. Socrates had misgivings about written language because of all the harm it might cause. I'm sure the same thoughts were had about the domestication of fire a million years ago.
In living memory, people cried doomsday about overpopulation, crop failure, mass starvation, and nuclear annihilation. In time, those fears were replaced by fear of acid rain, the ozone hole, deforestation, even the plastic rings on a 6 pack. Now we hear it's CO2, plastics, rising seas, population collapse, wokeism, and AI.
Yet here we are, stronger than ever.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- quietthrow 3y agoI don’t think people felt dread when ev’s came onto the market first or as we transition to a sustainable energy future. Point being not all progress is equal. Some progress is more equal than other ;)
- mindwok 3y agoPeople fearing domesticated plants sounds hilarious to me. Surely this is an exaggeration?
- starbase 3y agoBesides the cultural taboo that some non-agricultural societies had, there's the European fear of new world tomatoes that persisted from the 17th to 19th centuries. Wealthy folks ate the (acidic) fruit on pewter platters, the acid leached the lead from the pewter, and 10 generations of Europeans feared the fruit! If someone can explain why this fear didn't hit lemons, wine, and other acidic consumables, I'd love to know. Less directly related, but more way more hilarious, is the tendency of babies to fear plants. It must be something hard wired. Even soft leaves that could not possibly irritate their skin elicit a strong response. If you have a baby in your life, take them out to a garden and watch, it's something to behold. If you don't have a baby in your social circle, there are lots of videos online of infants (who can scarcely control their movement) contorting themselves to avoid contact with grass.
- notahacker 3y ago> there are lots of videos online of infants (who can scarcely control their movement) contorting themselves to avoid contact with grass. Isn't that less a taboo and more a normal infant response to avoiding something which is mildly itchy on exposed skin?