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joshstrangetoday at 1:55 PM4 repliesview on HN

> Most new technologies have been welcomed by the public with open arms.

I'm not going to predict how this is going to turn out in either direction but this statement gives me pause. I don't think that's ever been true. Yes, the siren song is strong but initially most new tech is met with skepticism. Are we so quick to forget "the internet/computers are just a fad"-type thinking?


Replies

simonsarristoday at 2:26 PM

Yeah backlash against railroads was very widespread, from lots of angles (farmers, property owners, canal investors, health-conscious people, religious leaders, etc). Probably the same for cars.

AlexandrBtoday at 5:52 PM

What's new is the inversion of who holds these opinions. With the internet/computers, company leadership was often the skeptical voice while small pockets of individuals would push these technologies from the bottom. AI is the complete opposite with skepticism coming bottom-up and push to adopt coming top-down. The last time this (almost) happened was "The Metaverse" which seemed to be getting a lot of push from the C suite.

This doesn't mean LLMs will be as useless as the metaverse, but a lot of the biggest proponents of the technology within companies are those most clueless about it which feels like a red flag.

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heaney-555today at 2:07 PM

Exactly, it's utter nonsense. The general public thought the first bicycles, automobiles, computers, mobile phones, smart watches, and AirPods were stupid. And now they are normal. Same with video games and dating apps.

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LogicFailsMetoday at 2:02 PM

Heliocentrism calling...

Yeah, we reject anything new and scary. Gotta wonder what the cavepeople made of the wheel.

Edit: still triggered by heliocentrism in 2026? OK then.

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