Every era has its fears. Attentive readers of the news could easily come to the conclusion that we are living in the worst of times, given all the political and technological developments that cannot help but lead to the collapse of our civilization. Climate change, war in Ukraine and Israel, sabre-rattling in China, artificial intelligence that is on its way to enslaving us, killing us and making us unemployed, today’s generations who don’t want to work, are stupefied in front of their cell phones and have their brains softened by influencers on Tik Tok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In past scares<\/a>, the purpose of building the Golden Gate Bridge<\/a> in San Francisco was questioned, elevator sickness<\/a> was warned against, the Boston subway tunnel<\/a> was decried as unwanted, the umbrella<\/a> as un-British and too “French”, and, of course, vaccinations<\/a> as against the nature of God. Today, we mostly just smile at these fears, because these technologies or buildings have become a natural part of our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Pessimists Archive<\/a> repeatedly finds gems from the past in which warnings were issued about the dangers of technologies such as the bicycle, the airplane, the mirror, the stethoscope or the teddy bear, and which are astonishingly similar in tone and arguments to the fears of current technologies and developments. One type of person has always appeared and continues to appear who earns a living from this: the moral entrepreneur<\/a>. They earn their living and their reputation by warning against new technologies. If we were not to regulate them and return to nature, then civilization as we know it would come to an end. Richard David Precht<\/a> and Anders Indset are prime examples of such moral entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The danger lies not so much in the technologies or developments they warn against, but in the negative and fearful Leitkultur<\/a> they create and with which societies remove themselves from international competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n