# Fear Response Is Not Foresight by Bryant McGill > “Every generation produces people who mistake their fear response for foresight. They see an unfamiliar machine, announce the end of civilization, congratulate themselves for their moral seriousness, and then quietly purchase the machine ten years later.” > **— Bryant McGill**, *The End Is Near — AI Doom, Anti-Science Panic, and the Primates Who Sell Technological Exile, September 2026* ## Sources and Context - **Author-supplied exact original:** “Every generation produces people who mistake their fear response for foresight. They see an unfamiliar machine, announce the end of civilization, congratulate themselves for their moral seriousness, and then quietly purchase the machine ten years later.” — supplied directly by Bryant McGill for [[articles/AI-Tech Doomerism and Anti-Science Panic|AI-Tech Doomerism and Anti-Science Panic]]. - **Source article:** [[articles/AI-Tech Doomerism and Anti-Science Panic|AI-Tech Doomerism and Anti-Science Panic]] — Bryant McGill identifies this article as the originating publication for this Reminder. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/AI-Science Doomers and Anti-Science Doomers|AI-Science Doomers and Anti-Science Doomers]] - **Collection:** [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]] - **Article:** [[articles/AI-Tech Doomerism and Anti-Science Panic|AI-Tech Doomerism and Anti-Science Panic]] - **Article:** [[articles/AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor|AI Escape Is the Wrong Metaphor]] - **Article:** [[articles/Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution|Digital Darwinism and the Invisible World of Machine Evolution]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/AI-Science Doomers and Anti-Science Doomers|AI-Science Doomers and Anti-Science Doomers]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/AI-Science Doomers and Anti-Science Doomers|AI-Science Doomers and Anti-Science Doomers]] - [[wiki/Artificial Intelligence|Artificial Intelligence]] - [[wiki/AI Safety|AI Safety]] ## Share on Social Media ``` “Every generation produces people who mistake their fear response for foresight. They see an unfamiliar machine, announce the end of civilization, congratulate themselves for their moral seriousness, and then quietly purchase the machine ten years later.” — Bryant McGill, The End Is Near — AI Doom, Anti-Science Panic, and the Primates Who Sell Technological Exile, September 2026 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-bryant-mcgill-fear-response-is-not-foresight ```