4h ago

David Manheim posts LessWrong analysis arguing the agricultural and industrial revolutions worsened health and mortality for living generations despite long-term gains, suggesting similar near-term costs even if AI proves a normal technology

The post titled 'If AI is normal technology, history is not reassuring' drew a reply from researcher Alex Imas.

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Original post
OPAlex Imas#1777Alex Imas@ALEXOLEGIMAS

@davidmanheim @BenSasse The IT revolution was mostly positive even while it was happening, but yes, agreed re Industrial Revolution.

6:05 AM · May 20, 2026 View on X
QUOTE POSTArvind Narayanan#132Arvind Narayanan@RANDOM_WALKER

Not only is this largely consistent with our views, it is a big part of the reason why we wrote AI as Normal Technology in the first place! Past technological revolutions led to a lot of misery in the short term, and maybe we can do better this time if we more proactively address these "normal" harms.

David ManheimDavid Manheim@davidmanheim

New post: Huge technological revolutions aren't usually positive for those living through them - and this bodes poorly for AI even if it is a normal technology.

12:52 PM · May 20, 2026 · 7.5K Views
4:00 PM · May 20, 2026 · 1.3K Views
David Manheim posts LessWrong analysis arguing the agricultural and industrial revolutions worsened health and mortality for living generations despite long-term gains, suggesting similar near-term costs even if AI proves a normal technology · Digg