---
title: "Brave New World and the Good Old Days"
type: "article"
slug: "brave-new-world-and-the-good-old-days"
url: "http://localhost/article/brave-new-world-and-the-good-old-days/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/brave-new-world-and-the-good-old-days.md"
published_at: "2026-03-12T18:32:47+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-12T18:32:47+00:00"
featured_image:
  url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg"
excerpt: "An unsigned editorial contrasting nostalgic enthusiasm for analog tools (slide rules, typewriters) with skepticism about contemporary environmental and scientific alarmism. Critiques the overconfidence of computer-based modeling in fields such as climate science and cosmology, arguing that models are constrained by their underlying assumptions. Stands as a philosophical counterweight to the technical articles in the same…"
category:
  - name: "SMUG Bytes"
    slug: "smug-bytes"
    taxonomy: "category"
    url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/smug-bytes/"
post_tag:
  - name: "Editorial"
    slug: "editorial"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/editorial/"
publication_r:
  id: 37935
  title: "SMUG Bytes"
  type: "periodical"
  url: "http://localhost/periodical/smug-bytes/"
volume: "10"
issue: "4-7"
issues_articles:
  - id: 50216
    title: "SMUG Bytes v10 n4-7"
    type: "issue"
    url: "http://localhost/issue/smug-bytes-v10-n4-7/"
pages: "4"
pubdate: "August - November 1993"
archive_link: false
---

# Brave New World and the Good Old Days

An unsigned editorial contrasting nostalgic enthusiasm for analog tools (slide rules, typewriters) with skepticism about contemporary environmental and scientific alarmism. Critiques the overconfidence of computer-based modeling in fields such as climate science and cosmology, arguing that models are constrained by their underlying assumptions. Stands as a philosophical counterweight to the technical articles in the same issue.