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Artificial intelligence is scary. But history reminds us that tech makes lives better, not worse
The article argues that fears about artificial intelligence should be weighed against technology’s historical role in improving living standards. Drawing on a new book by Chelsea Follett, it challenges nostalgia for pre-industrial life and says past innovations, including those of the Industrial Revolution, brought broad gains in comfort, health and prosperity.
It describes earlier hardships such as dark, unsafe cities, scarce heating and sanitation, and high rates of childhood death. The article says average real GDP per person in Western Europe rose 136% from 1820 to 1910, while life expectancy increased by more than a decade; today, around 2% of people in developed countries work as farmers, compared with up to 90% in many pre-industrial economies.
In short
- The article argues technology has improved lives across history.
- It contrasts modern abundance with pre-industrial hardship.
- It says AI fears should be viewed in that historical context.
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The case for
Past technological change has often raised living standards, improved health and safety, and freed people from arduous work. The article’s historical examples suggest that AI could similarly expand prosperity and make useful services more widely available, so fears should be weighed against its potential benefits rather than against an idealised past.
The case against
Past gains do not guarantee that AI’s benefits will be shared broadly or that its costs will be manageable. AI may displace workers, concentrate wealth and power, or create harms that earlier technologies did not; recognising the hardships of pre-industrial life does not remove the case for scrutiny and safeguards.