db@itspna.ed.ac.uk (Dave Berry) (07/07/87)
Several people use the word "Luddite" quite freely to denigrate an opposing point of view. I think this ignores several aspects of the Luddite movement. There is research showing that the textile machines which the Luddites were rebelling against were specifically designed to remove the workers control of their working lives. See for example papers included in "The Social Shaping of Technology", edited by Donald Mackenzie and Judy Wadjceman (sp?). Furthermore, several people lost their jobs, and therefore their income, through the introduction of this technology. Bear in mind that this was before the welfare state. Thus although the Luddites may have expressed their fears in religious and anti-technological terms, their fears were not groundless. Even though society as a whole, including ourselves, may have benefitted from the new technology, many people suffered as a result. To accuse these people of ignorance because they protested against this suffering, in the only ways they knew how, seems rather unsympathetic. The question I would like to see more work on is this: can we minimise the sufering from the development of new technologies without hindering that development?
riddle@woton.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle ) (07/08/87)
And then there are those who would rehabilitate the term "Luddite" entirely. Among them are some anarchists and the radical environmentalist group Earth First! (POB 5871, Tucson, AZ 85703), which, if I'm not mistaken, sells t-shirts or stickers proclaiming that "Ned Ludd was right!" > The question I would like to see more work on is this: can we minimise the > sufering from the development of new technologies without hindering that > development? A worthy goal, but I think that it's long since time that we realize that some sorts of development deserve to be hindered. Muir power to you. Prentiss Riddle
mandel@well.UUCP (Tom Mandel) (07/20/87)
While your historical remarks about Luddites are essentially correct, the term neo-luddites commonly refers to groups that are opposed to technological progress for one reason or another. The term is faintly derogatory.
jsnyder@june.cs.washington.edu (John R. Snyder) (08/06/87)
As I am generally too busy/lazy to look up articles in history or sociology journals, I would appreciate further postings on recent "Luddite scholarship". We should probably observe a moratorium on use of the term "Luddite" until we know what we're referring to. The most absurd use of the term I've ever witnessed was the work of former U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Lehman. Lehman appeared in a panel discussion sponsored by Symbolics Corp. at the recent American Assoc. for Artificial Intelligence conference in Seattle. There Lehman characterized any opposition to Star Wars "research" as Luddite, drawing into this enormous net fellow panelists James Schlesinger and Marvin Minsky (!), not to mention a majority of the large audience made up almost entirely of AI researchers and engineers. I wonder what Ned Ludd would have thought of that! John R. Snyder