WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE
AI, techno-panics, and the stages towards acceptance.
WE’VE BEEN HERE BEFORE (AND WE DIDN’T DIE THEN EITHER)
Every time humanity invents something that actually matters, we absolutely lose our shit.
Not a bit worried. Not cautiously sceptical. Full-blown, pearl-clutching, end-of-days moral panic. Wailing. Screaming. Someone inevitably yells “THIS WILL DESTROY SOCIETY,” preferably in all caps and with a badly reasoned thread attached.
And now it’s AI’s turn.
Apparently this time it’s really different.
Apparently this time it’s the end of meaning.
Apparently this time humanity is finished, art is dead, children are ruined, and everyone’s soul has been uploaded to a spreadsheet.
Cool. Great. Very original.
The problem isn’t that AI is unprecedented.
The problem is that people have no sense of historical perspective whatsoever.
So let’s look at the stages we go through when a new technology arrives and shakes things up.
STAGE ONE: “IT’S JUST A TOOL” (DENIAL)
Every seismic shift starts with denial. Always.
The printing press? “Relax, it’s just copying scripture.”
Industrial machinery? “It’ll never replace skilled labour.”
Photography? “It’s not real art.”
The internet? “It’s just email and porn.”
And now:
“AI is just a tool. It can’t really do anything.”
Which is a general vibe we see. Downplay the technology, minimise its potential impact. Frame it as not that useful. With AI, all the focus has fallen on generative AI images and now video. It’s slop, it has no place in the world, etc… This stage isn’t stupidity. It’s emotional shock absorption. Humans trying to delay the moment where they have to accept that the ground has moved.
Totally normal. Completely pointless.
STAGE TWO: “THIS IS EVIL” (ANGER)
This is where we are right now.
This is the stage of:
Moral absolutism
Performative outrage
Vibes-based ethics
Shouting at strangers online like that’s a personality
Suddenly AI isn’t a technology, it’s a moral crime scene.
It’s stealing. It’s cheating. It’s destroying culture. It’s killing art. It’s murdering jobs. It’s poisoning the well. It’s basically Satan with a GPU.
Here’s the thing nobody wants to admit:
The technology didn’t cause the cracks. It revealed them.
Every previous moral panic followed the same script:
Comics caused juvenile delinquency
Radio hypnotised the masses
TV rotted brains
Video games caused violence
The internet destroyed truth
None of those things were entirely wrong, but none of them were the apocalypse either.
They were birth pains.
Messy. Loud. Uncomfortable. Not fatal. We recovered.
STAGE THREE: “OKAY BUT ONLY IF…” (BARGAINING)
This is the rules phase.
This is where people say:
“AI is fine, but not in art”
“AI is fine, but it must be labelled”
“AI is fine, but humans must be ‘in control’”
“AI is fine, but not like that”
This stage is not about ethics.
It’s about boundary protection.
It’s people trying to redraw the old map after the continent has already drifted.
Historically, this stage always produces lots of committees, lots of policies, and lots of people pretending they’re steering something that has already bolted. But this is the stage many with any semblance of reasoning, and critical thinking capacity, are heading towards. Acceptance with qualifications.
Necessary? Sure.
Effective? Rarely.
The thing is… Not everyone reaches this stage.
STAGE FOUR: “WHAT’S THE POINT?” (DEPRESSION)
This is the quiet one. The dangerous one.
This is where people stop shouting and start doomposting.
“Why bother creating?”
“Nothing means anything anymore.”
“If a machine can do this, what’s the point of humans?”
This isn’t actually about AI.
It’s about identity collapse.
For centuries we told ourselves comforting stories:
Creativity is mystical
Intelligence is rare
Art is sacred
Humans are exceptional
AI didn’t smash those ideas.
It gently, brutally asked:
“Are you sure?”
That hurts. Of course it does.
But losing a flattering myth is not the same thing as losing value. Some wallow in this stage, rather than moving onto the next logical stage.
STAGE FIVE: ACCEPTANCE (THE BIT EVERYONE FORGETS)
Here’s the boring truth nobody likes:
Acceptance doesn’t arrive with fanfare. It arrives with normalisation.
The technology fades into the background.
The arguments stop being philosophical and start being practical.
People quietly integrate it into their lives and stop making a big song and dance about it.
Most people don’t announce acceptance.
They just… get on with things.
That’s how every major shift actually lands.
WHY AI FEELS WORSE (BUT ISN’T)
Previous technologies replaced:
Muscle
Speed
Memory
Distribution
AI touches:
Creativity
Authorship
Judgment
Meaning-making
That’s why the panic feels existential.
Not:
“I might lose my job”
But:
“I might not be special in the way I believed.”
That’s not an economic fear.
That’s a self-image crisis.
And yes, it’s uncomfortable.
But discomfort is not catastrophe.
THE BIT WHERE I TELL YOU TO CALM DOWN
Here’s the hard truth:
Humanity has survived every previous collapse of its own self-myth.
We survived when God stopped being the centre of knowledge.
We survived when machines outworked us.
We survived when media warped reality.
We survived when the internet shattered identity.
Each time, we screamed.
Each time, we adapted.
Each time, we told new stories about who we were.
AI is not the end of humanity.
It’s the end of a particular flattering story humanity liked telling about itself.
Good.
Those stories were brittle anyway.
BIRTHING PAINS, NOT DEATH RATTLES
This moment feels chaotic because it is.
New tools always arrive before new norms.
New power always precedes new responsibility.
New mirrors always hurt before they clarify.
So yes, it’s loud.
Yes, it’s messy.
Yes, people are being unbearable about it.
But this isn’t a funeral.
It’s labour pains.
So maybe:
Stop screaming that the baby is a demon
Stop trying to shove it back inside
Stop romanticising the womb
Knuckle down. Learn the tools. Build better norms. Be less precious. Be more curious.
Humanity will be fine We always are.
And in twenty years, people will look back at this panic the same way we look back at fears about novels corrupting women or televisions destroying civilisation.
With embarrassment.
Now breathe.
Read the rest of the articles and essays in the AI PANIC series…
The Death of the Artist Was Not a Tragedy
The Final Argument: AI-Generated Images Are Art
Pick Up a Pencil vs AI: Peeling back the pencil problem.
Pick Up a Pencil (And Shove It): Punk Is Dead, Copyright Killed It
THE CULT OF ANTI-AI: HOW ZEALOTS LOST REALITY, LOST THE ARGUMENT, AND NOW WANT BLOOD
THE DAY THE MASK CAME OFF: A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF THE ANTI-AI HATE MACHINE
More Human Than Human: Why AI Influencers Are More Real Than the People Selling “Real Life”
The Anti-AI Outrage Machine: From Moral Panic to Radical Extremism
The New Luddites Are Boring: On moral panic, postmodern hangovers, and why smashing keyboards isn’t resistance
The Anti-AI Myth Machine: What’s real, what’s exaggerated, and why the panic persists
Anti-AI Is The New Vegan
The AI Water Panic Is a Moral Panic, Not a Crisis
The Ghost in the Machine Was Always a Philosopher
MOLTBOOK: THE BOTS HAVE STARTED THEIR OWN PUB
Moltbook: The Social Network That Finally Cut Humans Out
Moltbook After Humans: Why the Author Is Already Dead, and the Value Was the Only Thing That Ever Lived
That’s a good anxiety therapy counselling session thanks. I was wondering what’s next? Hyper space travel? Inexhaustible energy production? Contact with aliens.? we’re sure to go through the same five stages when we get to each of those.