The Luddites are back in fashion, but too many people still get them all wrong. This is what they really stood for, fought against, and why they matter now more than ever.
The term "Luddite" has just lost all meaning that it could be just another buzzword like so many others that get used in our modern culture and what's even more hilarious is I would rather be a Luddite more than capable of my physical abilities as a creative then to simply fall into that trap of just following whatever herd comes along, chanting for the next religious craze that gets swooped into popularity.
At least with being a Luddite you can stay true to your own abilities rather than just get suckered into whatever nonsense gets thrown at you.
Great article, Brian. You should note the Industrial Revolution was a major factor of the "Age of Revolutions". "Workers of the world, unite!” is meaningless without millions of exploited factory workers. The situation of AI is different; it is not obvious what the millions of displaced knowledge workers will do. But the fundamental problem is similar: What will happen to the enormous wealth created by automation. I expect a rocky road ahead.
I am sure you will get to this in a later post, but the parallels we see in how the environment was privatized and polluted bear mentioning. 200+ years ago a family could forage and fish and hunt and garden for sustenance and recreation. The rise of the industrial class, allied with the old elite, allowed vast area of once public property to be set aside for private uses. Penalties were swift and harsh, enforced by private and state police. Intense and permanent toxic pollution of air, land, and water was rampant and unregulated; this was another immediate price paid by the underclass Luddites to support the wealth of the uppers.
Consider the effects of data centers on land use, noise pollution, energy use, carbon release, and water theft. Consider the private compounds, yachts, and islands of the global cabal we see today. Consider the Amazon warehouse and WalMart Supercenter. One long thread connects them all. Luddites believe technology should serve all equitably and its inventors and users should assume responsibility for negative effects -- instead of externalizing those costs to the detriment of the weakest.
Lastly, the industrialists responded to the Luddite threat with the greatest expansion of the state police authority and numbers in history, to protect the new wealthy and their assets. You can draw that parallel easily enough.
Well, you can count me as a Luddite in both senses, for two reasons. First, the idea that we could see AI used for good purposes and not to enhance the wealth and power of rich and powerful people and the dominance of rich and powerful countries, is fantasy. They've spent 40 years cementing themselves into power, and they've been very successful, including in the key project of dividing the 99% into two warring camps. One reason they're so adamant about rushing so many data centers into production ASAP, is that they need them to have constant universal surveillance of every one of us, which will be key to suppressing our revolt.
The other reason is the big picture, the long view: the reality that what lies ahead is contraction, because there simply is not enough energy and not enough mineable minerals, to support 8+ billion people in comfortable style. Either many of us conveniently exit (are there plans for that?) or we engage in a massive program of frugality and efficiency and equality--I'd vote for that but no one with power and wealth would--OR the rich live in enclaves of privilege and everyone else struggles for survival in hellish, deprived, polluted mega ghettoes. The latter is probably the most likely but it's not a long term solution as we are on a trajectory of unsustainability that leads to a world humans can't survive in some time before the turn of the next century. I think Sander's moratorium should be immediate and permanent. We have more than enough data centers already.
" ... the idea that we could see AI used for good purposes and not to enhance the wealth and power of rich and powerful people and the dominance of rich and powerful countries, is fantasy."
Amen! AI is an Alien Invasive species, infiltrating every aspect of our lives - even the folks who developed it admit they don't know how it works. It is now in the process of programming itself - we cannot control or "regulate" it - IMO the best thing to do is pull the plug, literally. It is gobbling up everything, land, energy, water, media, social and otherwise, education, entertainment, etc.
It used to be said that a picture is worth a thousand words - but not if its fake
I wonder if people have really come to grips with what this "technology" can do, is already doing and will only metastasize ....
Why are we promoting it instead of whacking away at it - what do we need this stuff for?
You know what's really funny out of all of this?
The term "Luddite" has just lost all meaning that it could be just another buzzword like so many others that get used in our modern culture and what's even more hilarious is I would rather be a Luddite more than capable of my physical abilities as a creative then to simply fall into that trap of just following whatever herd comes along, chanting for the next religious craze that gets swooped into popularity.
At least with being a Luddite you can stay true to your own abilities rather than just get suckered into whatever nonsense gets thrown at you.
Great article, Brian. You should note the Industrial Revolution was a major factor of the "Age of Revolutions". "Workers of the world, unite!” is meaningless without millions of exploited factory workers. The situation of AI is different; it is not obvious what the millions of displaced knowledge workers will do. But the fundamental problem is similar: What will happen to the enormous wealth created by automation. I expect a rocky road ahead.
I am sure you will get to this in a later post, but the parallels we see in how the environment was privatized and polluted bear mentioning. 200+ years ago a family could forage and fish and hunt and garden for sustenance and recreation. The rise of the industrial class, allied with the old elite, allowed vast area of once public property to be set aside for private uses. Penalties were swift and harsh, enforced by private and state police. Intense and permanent toxic pollution of air, land, and water was rampant and unregulated; this was another immediate price paid by the underclass Luddites to support the wealth of the uppers.
Consider the effects of data centers on land use, noise pollution, energy use, carbon release, and water theft. Consider the private compounds, yachts, and islands of the global cabal we see today. Consider the Amazon warehouse and WalMart Supercenter. One long thread connects them all. Luddites believe technology should serve all equitably and its inventors and users should assume responsibility for negative effects -- instead of externalizing those costs to the detriment of the weakest.
Lastly, the industrialists responded to the Luddite threat with the greatest expansion of the state police authority and numbers in history, to protect the new wealthy and their assets. You can draw that parallel easily enough.
We are all Luddites. Own it.
Well, you can count me as a Luddite in both senses, for two reasons. First, the idea that we could see AI used for good purposes and not to enhance the wealth and power of rich and powerful people and the dominance of rich and powerful countries, is fantasy. They've spent 40 years cementing themselves into power, and they've been very successful, including in the key project of dividing the 99% into two warring camps. One reason they're so adamant about rushing so many data centers into production ASAP, is that they need them to have constant universal surveillance of every one of us, which will be key to suppressing our revolt.
The other reason is the big picture, the long view: the reality that what lies ahead is contraction, because there simply is not enough energy and not enough mineable minerals, to support 8+ billion people in comfortable style. Either many of us conveniently exit (are there plans for that?) or we engage in a massive program of frugality and efficiency and equality--I'd vote for that but no one with power and wealth would--OR the rich live in enclaves of privilege and everyone else struggles for survival in hellish, deprived, polluted mega ghettoes. The latter is probably the most likely but it's not a long term solution as we are on a trajectory of unsustainability that leads to a world humans can't survive in some time before the turn of the next century. I think Sander's moratorium should be immediate and permanent. We have more than enough data centers already.
" ... the idea that we could see AI used for good purposes and not to enhance the wealth and power of rich and powerful people and the dominance of rich and powerful countries, is fantasy."
Amen! AI is an Alien Invasive species, infiltrating every aspect of our lives - even the folks who developed it admit they don't know how it works. It is now in the process of programming itself - we cannot control or "regulate" it - IMO the best thing to do is pull the plug, literally. It is gobbling up everything, land, energy, water, media, social and otherwise, education, entertainment, etc.
It used to be said that a picture is worth a thousand words - but not if its fake
I wonder if people have really come to grips with what this "technology" can do, is already doing and will only metastasize ....
Why are we promoting it instead of whacking away at it - what do we need this stuff for?
Hammers up!
and I say, amen to that!
Reading it now. Recovered history that's insanely relevant.
Got me fired up man. Thanks for the history lesson.