# Technological Irreversibility Is Not an Endorsement; It Is a Property of Accumulated Capability by Bryant McGill > “You can dislike the locomotive, but disliking it does not turn the railway back into grass. Technological irreversibility is not an endorsement; it is a property of accumulated capability. Once knowledge is distributed across nations, companies, universities, repositories, models, chips, papers, and millions of human minds, there is no magical committee that makes everyone unknow it.” > **— 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:** “You can dislike the locomotive, but disliking it does not turn the railway back into grass. Technological irreversibility is not an endorsement; it is a property of accumulated capability. Once knowledge is distributed across nations, companies, universities, repositories, models, chips, papers, and millions of human minds, there is no magical committee that makes everyone unknow it.” — supplied directly by Bryant McGill for [[articles/The End Is Near — AI Doom, Anti-Science Panic, and the Primates Who Sell Technological Exile|The End Is Near — AI Doom, Anti-Science Panic, and the Primates Who Sell Technological Exile]]. - **Source article:** [[articles/The End Is Near — AI Doom, Anti-Science Panic, and the Primates Who Sell Technological Exile|The End Is Near — AI Doom, Anti-Science Panic, and the Primates Who Sell Technological Exile]] — 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/The End Is Near — AI Doom, Anti-Science Panic, and the Primates Who Sell Technological Exile|The End Is Near — AI Doom, Anti-Science Panic, and the Primates Who Sell Technological Exile]] - **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 ``` “You can dislike the locomotive, but disliking it does not turn the railway back into grass. Technological irreversibility is not an endorsement; it is a property of accumulated capability. Once knowledge is distributed across nations, companies, universities, repositories, models, chips, papers, and millions of human minds, there is no magical committee that makes everyone unknow it.” — 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-technological-irreversibility-is-not-an-endorsement-it-is-a ```