Is it time for a Luddite Renaissance?

mmooreds about 2 hours ago 26 commentsRead Article on npr.org

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Discussion (26 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

runjake•about 1 hour ago

In the true sense where you're militarizing and committing acts of sabotage on others' property (so-called "monkeywrenching")? And then, getting suppressed and eradicated/killed by the government?

No.

I prefer the "Calm Technology"[1] approach as espoused by Amber Case[2]. I think this is the saner path forward.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calm_technology

2. https://a.co/d/02kdlV3p

philips•36 minutes ago

What are some of your favorite devices/software that follow this idea? I can list mine:

- Supernote by Ratta https://supernote.com

- Air Lab by Networked Artifacts https://networkedartifacts.com

- Xteink X4 (or equivalent) https://www.xteink.com

- Zeroink Writer - my kids use it to practice typing and write letters I can print out. Essentially digital typewriter. https://www.crowdsupply.com/zerowriter/zerowriter-ink

- Readwise - enables me to review highlighted passages and ideas from things I read

- Obsidian - I dump text files into it, it syncs it around for me to review or edit.

widowlark•3 minutes ago

To add to this:

- Playdate (https://play.date) - fun little portable console with an rLCD screen

- Daylight (https://daylight.computer) rLCD paper-like tablet

- Envy (https://envynote.app) - Obsidian without the plugins, local only

- dumb phone (https://dumbphone.so) - make your iPhone dumber, on purpose

- xteink x4 pro (https://www.xteink.com/products/xteink-x4-pro-pocket-ereader) - great, small reader

hope people enjoy!

runjake•5 minutes ago

I love and use a few of those products and would agree, but I think a bigger component is our relationship to technology.

IMHO, calm technology is both a property of a product and a way of relating to a product. And I think it's quite personal. For example, digital note-taking tablets are anything but calm for me (but I recognize they may be for others!). OTOH, I practically live in Obsidian.

I ask myself:

- Can I have a calm relationship with this product?

- Does the product respect my agency? Can I decide when and how this technology enters my attention?

- Is it configurable? Can I turn off notifications, feeds, recommendations, badges, autoplay, algorithmic prompts, and so one, without crippling the useful parts?

- Is it intentional? Can I open it to get something done and then leave, rather than being pulled into continued use?

- Does it improve my well-being? Am I generally better off? Am I more informed, capable, connected, productive, or am I merely more stimulated (eg. dopamine)?

Some other perhaps non-sexy products: Amazon Echo Dot, my various air sensors, my more reliable home automation components that are already setup and just work, my Kindle and Xteink.

idontwantthis•5 minutes ago

My favorite is a notebook and pen. I tried all ways to write notes digitally and it only adds stress and friction for me. No batteries to charge, no files to backup, no bluetooth to sync.

RobotToaster•about 1 hour ago

Unfortunately I imagine your modern AI data centre has better security than a 19th century textile mill.

frumplestlatz•about 1 hour ago

Unfortunately? Are we really at the point of supporting terrorism of the “correct” political persuasion?

howunfortunate•about 1 hour ago

We're way past it, sadly. Luigi was insanely popular for the cold blooded murder of a CEO. Hundreds of thousands of people celebrated Charlie Kirk's murder within minutes of it happening, let alone the discourse you see now, a year later. Plenty of people, even on this forum, openly advocate for "the funniest thing" happening to Elon.

Terrorism and murder are in vogue.

dgellow•less than a minute ago

No mention of a certain president and his cultists coup-ing the government to steal an election? Definitely sounded like terrorism at the time, with clear call to eliminating a vice president and other representatives

GolfPopper•6 minutes ago

All the examples align with a particular political persuasion (and are unverified claims rather than examples).

Brian Thompson was responsible for denying valid medical claims.[1] Among many other such moment's, Charlie Kirk smirks as he calls stoning homosexuals “God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.”[2] Journalist Nicholas Khristof puts names to some of the great many victims of Musk's DOGE cuts. [3]

These are, of course, just specific examples relevant to the mentioned individuals. They are part of a larger trend, exemplified by January 6th, where the the American right-wing drives political violence. [4] Complaints about violence from the right seem to just be abusers, unhappy that any of their victims might ever fight back.

1. https://arstechnica.com/health/2023/11/ai-with-90-error-rate...

2. https://x.com/patriottakes/status/1800678317030564306

3. https://twitter.com/NickKristof/status/2071402944017453276

4. https://www.profolus.com/topics/right-wing-extremists-drive-...

kelseyfrog•25 minutes ago

There's a lot of folks out there with champagne bottles and party poppers earmarked for when it happens.

runjake•19 minutes ago

Yes. If you're exposed to one entrenched end of the spectrum or another, you might notice the rhetoric and threats have picked up quite a bit on both sides. Language and actions are becoming more divisive and more violent.

I increasingly hear insane not-in-passing phrases like "Someone should just [commit some violent act to further the speaker's political beliefs]." Lately, it's about sabotaging data centers and killing CEOs.

And it's not just talk, this stuff starts by motivating the loonier members of a group to commit acts like mass shootings, the Charlie Kirk assassination, violence against LGBTQ people and other targeted groups, and so on.

I feel like some weird outsider, sitting in center-left.

Refreeze5224•18 minutes ago

We have an 8 hour workday, and women's suffrage, thanks to "terrorism", as you call it.

miltonlost•about 1 hour ago

Are we at the point where we allow companies to just hack other companies and do nothing about it?

canelonesdeverd•17 minutes ago

Yes, money is God and companies are his saints. Keep your head down and surrender everything to them

ssttoo•26 minutes ago

For rethinking the Luddite movement I recommend the book Blood in the Machine (I think I learned about it here on HN)

orbital-decay•about 1 hour ago

This word has lost any meaning, if anything the current anti-tech wave is far closer to Amish views (subjective vetoing of new tech to avoid centralization and preserve the way of life) than to historical Luddism.

goatlover•about 1 hour ago

The term luddite is like the term pharisee. It's a pejorative removed from it's historical context. Actual Luddites and Pharisees would have not agreed that they were against technology or legalistic hypocrites, even though their critics tried to paint them with that brush.

lo_zamoyski•about 1 hour ago

> It's a pejorative removed from it's historical context.

It utterly depends on historical context. Intelligent people understand antonomasia and eponymy.

> Actual Luddites and Pharisees would have not agreed that they were against technology or legalistic hypocrites

That's neither here nor there.

lo_zamoyski•35 minutes ago

What I find interesting is how the tone seems to have changed in swathes of tech industry. Until LLMs were a thing, techno-optimism and sola technologia fundamentalism seems to have been a more prominent fetish. When LLMs began having a practical and tangible effect, much of the same cohort seems to have pivoted toward aversion. If this is true—and this perception could be an artifact of selection bias driven by those with the loudest voices, though I strongly suspect it is not that entirely—then it cannot be denied how self-serving it is. Sure, we can automate away all sorts of jobs, confident that our own is the only constant and the one thing that would survive automation. But then, the cunning of reality cut down that hubris.

Of course, I do think technology ought to be adopted with prudence and wisdom. We must always remember the purpose of technology which is serving the objective human good, but to be able to do that requires more than narrow technical savvy. You need a wise and substantive grasp of the broader context within which technology is located.

swatcoder•26 minutes ago

Techno-optimism entered decay in the 2010's, as it became clear that advertising companies that mined personal data and actively manipulated political and social sentiment were the unchecked winners of the age. Turns out we were in the Gibson timeline.

But participation as both employees and consumers was juiced by ZIRP, and so the bottom didn't fall out until the later post-COVID economic turn.

The many controversies LLM's are just icing on the thoroughly baked cake.

cyanydeez•about 2 hours ago

Actual luddite: prevent capitalists from using technology to destroy society.

Meme luddite: hate technology

pessimizer•about 1 hour ago

Actual Luddite: your employees who are going through layoffs while your profits are rising.

Luddite according to the boss: somebody who is trying to prevent me from doing what I want to do when I want to do it just because there's 100 of them and one of me.

The boss owns the printing press.

lolakutty•about 1 hour ago

normie: Loves to walk on technologically advanced crutches when they have perfectly working legs...

wartywhoa23•about 1 hour ago

An obligatory Deus Ex cinematic trailer: https://youtu.be/4-MU5MgRV6U

analog8374•about 1 hour ago

Amish luddite. Technology is vetted by a central committee before the public is allowed to use it.

esafak•38 minutes ago

I was in Amish country last week, watching in bemusement as elderly women zoomed down the street in e-bikes. I thought to myself that it was understandable given that they lived on uneven terrain. But then, I wondered, why did they choose such a place to live if they were not willing to use technology, and why did e-bikes get a pass while cars didn't?

analog8374•5 minutes ago

it's literally whatever is approved by the central committee. which is actually pretty smart when you think about it

Citizen_Lame•about 1 hour ago

Cyberpunk Luddite - carries an illegal military-grade EMP grenade strictly for when the smart fridge tries to make small talk.

bbg2401•about 1 hour ago

Your “actual Luddite” characterisation is just as much a meme.

Both are stupid misrepresentations of the movement.

bbor•about 1 hour ago

All Hail King Ludd!

What do I mean by that? No one knows. But it's provocative -- it gets the comments going!

(despite being a dumb comment, this is my attempt to express the serious point that Luddism is a beautiful, admirable movement, and we are in a position where it can and will be redefined completely to fit this new world; don't let anyone convince you that their Luddism is the only true Luddism, at least not yet!)