fix: repetition, footnotes

blogs/posts/2026-06-01_a-brief-history-of-scepticism-towards-new-tech/index.qmd

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ format:
 ---
 
 In Plato's *Phaedrus*, over 2,000 years ago, Socrates tells a story about a dangerous new technology that would erode memory, encourage shallow thinking, and give people the illusion of knowledge without the substance.
-That technology was _writing_.[^1]
+That technology was *writing*.[^1]
 
 His concern was not aiming for eccentricity. It was the considered view of one of history's greatest minds.
 And he was not entirely wrong. We do rely on written records rather than memorising everything. Whether that is a loss or a liberation probably depends on who you ask.
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ The tool amplifies what you bring to it. That has always been true. A person who
 
 This is not a defence of laziness. It is an argument for investing in understanding how to use AI well, rather than either dismissing it or outsourcing your thinking to it uncritically.
 
-As Jony Ive once observed, when people encounter something new, they instinctively try to reference what's familiar - and judge it by how well it matches the past.[^9]
+As Jony Ive once observed, when people encounter something new, they instinctively reference what's familiar - and judge it by how well it matches the past.[^8] But as Mahler put it, tradition is not the worship of ashes. It is the preservation of fire.[^9] The question is not whether AI resembles the tools we already know - it doesn't - but which parts of what we value are worth carrying forward into how we use it.
 
 ## Professional Identity and the Fear of Being Replaced
 
@@ -53,10 +53,10 @@ There is a particular kind of anxiety that is less about the technology itself a
 Consider the London black cab driver. To earn a licence, a cabbie must pass The Knowledge - a gruelling test requiring the memorisation of around 25,000 streets and thousands of points of interest across London.
 It takes most candidates between three and four years to prepare. It is a remarkable human achievement.
 
-When GPS navigation arrived, some cabbies dismissed it outright. In a recent CBS News interview, a veteran driver compared Google Maps to a hot dog vendor and himself to Gordon Ramsay. In his view, the tool simply could not replicate what years of hard-won expertise had built.[^4]
+When GPS navigation arrived, some cabbies dismissed it outright. In a recent CBS News interview, a veteran driver compared Google Maps to a hot dog vendor and himself to Gordon Ramsay. In his view, the tool simply could not replicate what years of hard-won expertise had built.[^3]
 The instinct he is expressing is deeply human and thoroughly familiar.
 
-This example is current, not historical. Autonomous taxis are currently being trialled in London, with British startup Wayve Technologies already conducting test runs and US company Waymo among those planning to participate.[^5]
+This example is current, not historical. Autonomous taxis are currently being trialled in London, with British startup Wayve Technologies already conducting test runs and US company Waymo among those planning to participate.[^4]
 The sense that something irreplaceable is being undervalued, remains.
 
 This is worth sitting with for a moment. The concern is not always "will I have a job". It is often something quieter and more personal: "will what I have learned still matter".
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ That is a reasonable thing to wonder. And it deserves a more thoughtful answer t
 
 If the anxieties of cab drivers and students feel relatable, consider that the most serious concerns about artificial intelligence were voiced not by outsiders looking in, but by the very people who built the foundations of the field.
 
-Dr Norbert Wiener is not a household name, but he probably should be. A mathematician and scientist at MIT, Wiener pioneered the field he called *cybernetics* - the study of how systems, whether mechanical or biological, regulate themselves through feedback. The concepts he developed in the 1940s and 1950s underpin much of what we now call artificial intelligence.[^6]
+Dr Norbert Wiener is not a household name, but he probably should be. A mathematician and scientist at MIT, Wiener pioneered the field he called *cybernetics* - the study of how systems, whether mechanical or biological, regulate themselves through feedback. The concepts he developed in the 1940s and 1950s underpin much of what we now call artificial intelligence.[^5]
 
 ![Dr Norbert Wiener, pioneer of cybernetics and one of the earliest voices warning about the risks of intelligent machines. Sourced from the Pessimists Archive newsletter.](norbert-wiener-portrait.jpg){fig-alt="Historical photograph of Dr Norbert Wiener, mathematician and founder of cybernetics, at work. Sourced from the Pessimists Archive newsletter"}
 
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ He was not against the machines. He was against thoughtlessness.
 It is not only individuals who resist new technology. Institutions do too, often with the best of intentions.
 
 In 1983, Harvard University introduced coin-operated word processing terminals across its dormitories, libraries, and classrooms. The initiative was cautious and carefully managed - the university wanted to understand whether students who were not technically inclined could use computers as everyday writing tools.
-Access was structured and monitored.[^7]
+Access was structured and monitored.[^6]
 
 Organisations today that require sign-off before staff can use AI tools, or that restrict access while policies are drafted, are operating from a similar - reasonable - instinct. Moving carefully in the face of genuine uncertainty is not the same as moving badly.
 
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ Harvard in 1983 is one instance. But institutional caution around new technology
 
 ## Every Age Has Its Concerns
 
-In 1926, a professor at New York University gave an interview reported under the headline *"Modern Age of Speed Deplored By Professor"*. Radio, jazz, new psychology, and modern commerce fell under the "seven deadly values" of contemporary life. There is a quote that stands out across the intervening century - that another age "would have hesitated to annihilate space and time the way we grind them up in our machines. [...] They would have feared the envy of the gods but we enjoy the idea of overcoming the natural limits of human life".[^8]
+In 1926, a professor at New York University gave an interview reported under the headline *"Modern Age of Speed Deplored By Professor"*. Radio, jazz, new psychology, and modern commerce fell under the "seven deadly values" of contemporary life. There is a quote that stands out across the intervening century - that another age "would have hesitated to annihilate space and time the way we grind them up in our machines. [...] They would have feared the envy of the gods but we enjoy the idea of overcoming the natural limits of human life".[^7]
 
 Swap "radio" for "social media" or "AI" and the sentence barely needs editing.
 
@@ -118,27 +118,15 @@ The question has never been whether a new technology will change things. It alwa
 
 ## Conclusions
 
-Socrates worried that writing would hollow out human memory.
-A professor in 1926 worried that radio was grinding up the fabric of civilised life.
-In 1983, Harvard worried that word processors might change writing in ways it could not yet predict.
-A pioneering AI scientist spent decades warning that machines would do what we asked rather than what we ought to ask.
-A London cab driver worries that a lifetime of hard-won expertise is about to be made redundant.
+Socrates worried that writing would hollow out human memory. A professor in 1926 worried that radio was grinding up the fabric of civilised life. In 1983, Harvard worried that word processors might change writing in ways it could not yet predict. A pioneering AI scientist spent decades warning that machines would do what we asked rather than what we ought to ask. A London cab driver worries that a lifetime of hard-won expertise is about to be made redundant.
 
 None of these people were being unreasonable. All of them were responding, in good faith, to something that felt genuinely uncertain.
 
-And yet here we are - reading, writing, coding, navigating, and working with tools that each generation before us found cause to question. The concerns did not stop the technology. But they did shape how it was adopted - slowly, with friction, and with enough pushback to force developers and institutions to take human costs seriously.
+And yet here we are reading, writing, coding, navigating, and working with tools that each generation before us found cause to question. The concerns did not stop the technology. But they shaped how it was adopted - slowly, with friction, and with enough pushback to force developers and institutions to take human costs seriously.
 
-That friction is not always comfortable to sit in. If you are working in an organisation that feels slow to move, or if you find yourself uncertain about when and how to use AI tools, or if the whole conversation feels exhausting - that is a reasonable place to be. It does not mean you are behind. It may mean you are paying attention.
+That friction is not always comfortable. If you are working in an organisation that feels slow to move, or if you find yourself uncertain about when and how to use AI tools, or if the whole conversation feels exhausting - that is a reasonable place to be. It does not mean you are behind. It may mean you are paying attention.
 
-As Jony Ive observed, when people encounter something new, they instinctively try to reference what's familiar - and judge it by how well it matches the past.[^9]
-That instinct is human and understandable. But it is not the same as engagement.
-
-Tradition, as Mahler said, is not the worship of ashes - it is the preservation of fire.[^10]
-
-The most useful thing any of us can do right now is probably the same thing Wiener was asking for in 1949. Erich Fromm put it pertinently: *"Creativity requires the courage of letting go of certainty".*[^11]
-Those who have navigated it best have tended to engage thoughtfully, ask good questions, and resist the pull towards both uncritical enthusiasm and reflexive resistance.
-
-The technology will keep moving. The steadier we are in how we meet it, the better the outcomes are likely to be - for the people using it, and for the people affected by it.
+Erich Fromm put it nicely: "Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainty".[^10] That has always been the steadier path - not uncritical enthusiasm, not reflexive resistance, but the willingness to engage thoughtfully with what is actually new.
 
 ## Acknowledgement
 This piece grew out of a conversation started by Jonathan Spencer during a recent Coffee & Coding session our Unit organises fortnightly. With characteristic modesty, Jonathan shared some questions he's been
@@ -160,10 +148,10 @@ asking himself about AI - and in doing so, sparked an interesting discussion tha
 
 [^7]: Pessimists Archive. "1926 screed against radio - 'annihilating space and time'" [Pessimists Archive, May 2026](https://nitter.net/PessimistsArc/status/2056784678753866086).
 
-[^8]: Jony Ive, in conversation with Cleo Abram and Flavio Manzoni. 
-*Huge Conversations: Iconic Sports Car Ferrari.* [YouTube, May 2026](https://youtu.be/K-o0r2zSgCE).
+[^8]: Jony Ive, in conversation with Cleo Abram and Flavio Manzoni.
+    *Huge Conversations: Iconic Sports Car Ferrari.* [YouTube, May 2026](https://youtu.be/K-o0r2zSgCE).
 
-[^9]: Gustav Mahler, as quoted in the same conversation by Flavio Manzoni: 
-"Tradition is not the worship of ashes. Tradition is the preservation of fire."
+[^9]: Gustav Mahler, as quoted by Flavio Manzoni in the same conversation ([^8]): "Tradition is not the worship of ashes. Tradition is the preservation of fire."
 
 [^10]: Erich Fromm, as quoted by Flavio Manzoni in the same conversation.
+