Neo-luddite

One is a neo-Luddite revolt, aiming to destroy machines and machine systems […]

Last along the spectrum comes a diverse set of social critics, activists and intellectuals for the most part, who accept the neo-Luddite label without demur and are consciously working to adapt certain of the Luddite fundamentals to contemporary politics.

One such collection of thoughts is the neo-Luddite spectrum. Not yet an organized movement, the neo-Luddite approach contains multitudes of […]

However, as the original Luddites did, a small number of people within the neo-Luddite movement have resorted to criminal activity.

Past neo-Luddite movements have, it should be noted, come and gone. In the 1990s, activist writers such as Kirkpatrick Sale called for a neo-Luddism that rejected the computer age altogether, arguing that “a world dominated by the technologies of industrial society is fundamentally more detrimental than beneficial to human happiness and survival.”

Nick Hilton, host of a neo-luddite podcast called The Ned Ludd Radio Hour, has invited me over for a cup of tea.

"Neo-Luddite," I said to myself. A filthy accusation.

Yet the neo-Luddite resistance is remarkably disparate. Some flee to the woods; others, taking a less courageous stand, are content to dis the microwave oven and cellular phone. But on one major point, neo-Luddites agree: They would loathe computerization even if hordes of unwitting neo-Luddites hadn't suddenly made technophobia so trendy.

Where a techno-pessimist like Yudkowsky would have us address the biggest-picture threats conceivable[…] neo-luddites tend to focus on ground-level concerns. Employment, especially, because this is where technology enriched by AIs seems to be causing the most pain.

Nick Hilton, host of a neo-luddite podcast called The Ned Ludd Radio Hour, has invited me over for a cup of tea.

Wisecracking on the brink, the TrashFuture gang have no time for the brisk dismissal of groups like the neo-luddites, but neither are they all that keen to start an assault on the world’s computer farms, delivering the pre-emptive blow to future AIs that Yudkowsky has called for in print.