In 1881 NYT Cited Academics Warning Telegraphy Could End the World, Echoing Today's AI Doom
arampell · x · 2026-09-18
Pessimists Archive resurfaces its newsletter Telegraph Doomers of the 19th Century: in 2026 the New York Times seriously cites academics warning AI might end the world — and in 1881 the same paper cited a 'prominent academic journal' claiming the global telegraph web posed 'a new danger to the stability of the globe.'
Key points:
- The telegraph was the 19th-century internet, triggering familiar anxieties about rapid social change.
- Western Union's monopoly made it the era's big-tech boogeyman; Jay Gould's plan to girdle the earth with wire was seen as an 'unalloyed benefit' by '99 out of 100' people, yet the Times countered with doom reports syndicated as far as Ireland and Australia.
- The takeaway: every general-purpose information technology spawns near-identical apocalyptic narratives, and AI doom rhetoric is the latest installment.
Related event: 1881 Telegraph Panic Echoes Today's AI Doom Narratives(2 posts)→
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