“luddite” is usually used as an insult these days.
in a world where technology defines our lives and culture, revolutionizing itself more rapidly every generation, making our world so convenient and productive, who could oppose it?
The Luddites were members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers who protested the usage of certain types of automated machinery owing to their concerns over worker pay, labour savings, child labour, working conditions, and output quality.
these are the first words of the wikipedia entry on the luddites.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddites
around 1800, the industrial revolution was kicking off. new methods of power generation, engines, electricity, machines, and capital were pushing a revolution of technology that would change daily life.
sound familiar?
as mechanization became more accepted, the people in the fields had to adapt to this new technology. often, it made them irrelevant, as a machine could produce more than they could. but, they noted, with less quality, with less sustainability, with less support for the people doing the labor. a child can press a button and make something? is that amazing or is it horrifying?
over 200 years later, we’re at the logical continuance of this question. for the most part, the answer has been “it is good enough” with blood drawn to defend it.
luddites were technicians. they just saw how technology could make life worse, too. as a technician, so do i.
the big debate is – was it worth it? our population density exploded, we are producing at logarithmic levels, our economy is booming. advances in science made us healthier and safer, made life faster and more productive.
the real question is – what would have happened if we still accepted technology, but did it with a code of ethics?
was runaway capitalism and industrialization the only way we could have improved the world?
that question is far beyond my scope and ability to answer. though i have thoughts. i think technology is inherently good. it’s the basis for human development since our beginning. our abilities to speak, communicate, create, reason, and invent are why we are such a dominant species. it’s how we left the earth and visited a goddess in the night.
these are the same thoughts that have existed since the enlightenment, the foundation of science, and the invention of modern democracy and capitalism. there’s a share of horror, and a share of legitimate progress. sometimes, it has been a fight for each step, wondering which side is more progressive for humanity. the luddites had these questions, and wanted us to consider them. many were quakers, religious progressives who fought against institutions like slavery.
the modern perception of them is idiots who refuse to accept human progress. this is the result of a centuries long campaign by industrialists to dismiss these questions. it continues to this day.
to my eye, we live in a world of convenience and wealth whose basis is in the exploitation of a global underclass who exist to provide our luxury so a few hundred industrialists become richer than god.
i hope those original textile technicians would count me a sibling.