A New Zealand sheep farmer’s letter about AI doom has resurfaced, 161 years after it was published in a Christchurch-based newspaper.
The warning, written by Samuel Butler, has since been spread around on social media as people take in the thoughts of a man well ahead of his time.
‘Darwin among the Machines’ was a letter sent to the editor of ‘The Press’ newspaper and was published on June 13, 1863 under the pseudonym Cellarius.
Wow – the question of pausing or stopping AI is over 161 years old pic.twitter.com/MeXgg55PTN
— Peter Wildeford 🇺🇸 (@peterwildeford) January 8, 2025
It starts by referring to the question “What sort of creature man’s next successor in the supremacy of the earth is likely to be,” with this still being debated to this day as the topic of AI remains highly contentious.
‘…the machines are gaining ground upon us,’ technology and AI doom letter from 161 years ago
“Day by day, however, the machines are gaining ground upon us; day by day we are becoming more subservient to them; more men are daily bound down as slaves to tend them, more men are daily devoting the energies of their whole lives to the development of mechanical life,” the man wrote.
“The upshot is simply a question of time, but that the time will come when the machines will hold the real supremacy over the world and its inhabitants is what no person of a truly philosophic mind can for a moment question.”
Fast forward to the modern age, 161 years on, and the reality of people spending their time and careers dedicated to the development of new technology has come to fruition.
Humanoid robots are now working in factories, cars drive themselves, and AI is starting to cement itself into daily life.
While technology has become commonplace, many have expressed concerns about its usage over the years.
The letter ends as a warning note to readers, urging that: “War to the death should be instantly proclaimed against them. Every machine of every sort should be destroyed by the well-wisher of his species.
“Let there be no exceptions made, no quarter shown; let us at once go back to the primeval condition of the race.”
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram