Folks who fear AI, are usually from the Fundamentalist (not very smart folks because ignorance of God's general revelation) church. Their argument is not different than folks who argue against cars back in the days:
These folks never learn from history. What were the common fear when Automobile first came around, having to transition from horse chariots to cars?
Google Gemini said:
The transition from "horse power" to the internal combustion engine was far from smooth. While we now see the early 20th century as a time of exciting progress, many people at the time viewed the automobile with genuine terror, suspicion, and deep moral concern.
Here were the most common fears and anxieties when cars first appeared on the streets:
- The Loss of "Horse Intelligence"
One of the most profound fears was the loss of the horse’s own brain. People argued that a horse provided a "second intelligence" on the road. A horse wouldn't knowingly walk off a cliff, stumble into a deep ditch, or collide with another animal.
The Fear: Without a horse to act as a "natural cruise control," people feared that human drivers were too fallible to handle a machine that had no instincts of its own.
The Habit: Early drivers were famously known to yell "Whoa!" or "Stop!" at their cars during a panic, forgetting that a machine required a physical brake rather than a verbal command.
- "Speed Madness" and Safety
In the late 1800s, the world moved at about 10–15 mph (the speed of a trotting horse). When cars began reaching 25 or 30 mph, it was seen as a reckless, life-threatening pace.
The "Devil Wagon": Cars were often called "devil wagons" because they moved without any visible means of propulsion, which felt supernatural or "ungodly" to some.
Danger to Children: Since streets were previously a shared space where children played and pedestrians walked freely, the sudden arrival of fast, heavy machines led to a high number of fatalities, sparking "Anti-Automobile" riots in cities like New York and Cincinnati.
- The "Red Flag" and "Blanket" Laws
The fear was so high that governments passed "Red Flag Acts."
Manual Warning: In some parts of the UK and the US, a car was legally required to have a person walking 60 yards ahead of it waving a red flag to warn pedestrians and horse-riders of the "danger" approaching.
The Pennsylvania Law: One proposed (though possibly apocryphal or short-lived) law in Pennsylvania required a motorist who saw a horse coming to pull over and cover their car with a canvas blanket that blended into the scenery. If the horse still seemed scared, the driver was supposed to take the car apart, piece by piece, and hide the components in the bushes until the horse passed.
- Economic and Social Displacement
Entire industries were built around the horse: blacksmiths, stable hands, carriage makers, and "buggy whip" manufacturers.
Job Loss: There was a massive fear that the "horseless carriage" would bankrupt the working class.
Elitism: For the first decade, cars were toys for the ultra-wealthy. Farmers and rural residents often saw them as "arrogant" machines that tore up dirt roads, scared their livestock, and provided no practical use for a working man.
- Environmental and Sensory Assault
We often think of cars as the original polluters, but at the time, cars were marketed as the "Green" solution.
Manure vs. Smoke: In 1898, the first international urban planning conference in NYC was canceled early because no one could figure out what to do about the 2.5 million pounds of horse manure dropped on city streets every day.
The New Fears: Despite the manure solution, people hated the "mechanical" smell of gasoline and the "infernal" racket of the early engines. The noise was so disruptive that some towns banned cars from operating on Sundays to keep the peace for church services.
- Mechanical Unreliability
Early cars were notoriously unreliable. This led to the famous 1890s-1900s jeer: "Get a horse!"
The Fear of Being Stranded: If a horse got tired, it could rest; if it was hungry, it could graze. If a car ran out of gas or "popped a tire" (which happened constantly on roads filled with horseshoe nails), the driver was completely helpless. People feared being stranded in the wilderness with a "useless pile of iron."
- Physical Health Concerns
Some doctors even hypothesized that the human body wasn't designed to travel at such high speeds. There were concerns that the "vibrations" of the engine would cause internal organ damage or that the "rushing air" at 30 mph would make it impossible for passengers to breathe, leading to "respiratory paralysis."