Of all the terms marshaled out to describe our relationship to technology, 'Luddite' is maybe the most incorrectly and over-used. In modern parlance, it is a broad catchall for anyone who either fears, dislikes, opposes, or refuses to understand technology. It's a synonym for 'technophobe'—which is a travesty to the fearsome, machine-wrecking movement from which the term arose.
This is a bad article. "Luddite" is used to describe someone who is opposed to inevitable technological change - in fact, someone opposed to technological change that has already come about. The original Luddites, by the author's own arguments, were people opposed to technological change that was already coming about. More importantly, the actions of the Luddites were not unlike the actions of the music or motion picture industries in response to the arrival of torrents and streaming. Do your own Google News search. You'll find that nearly every hit is someone self-identifying as a Luddite. Four hits down, you'll find a much better article that makes a better argument in Slate from a month ago.Are you worried that children are using the internet too much? You are a Luddite, according to the Telegraph. Do you oppose fracking? Then you're a Luddite; so proclaims a Nevada newspaper. Don't want a smartphone to replace your wallet? You too are a Luddite, Forbes says.
Each of those references to Luddism, taken from the results of a quick Google News search—and, together, fairly representative of how the term is commonly used—has at least one thing in common: They're all wrong.
Agreed. If there is a lesson from this (preachy) re-evaluation of the original Luddite movement, it's that neither smashing the works nor remaining purposefully disorganized will solve social impacts to technological advance. Even if the Luddites of yore had a point about lower quality, they weren't making a case that took away income from factory owners. This was so early in the industrialization process that would've been hard to organize an effective economic boycott. Then perhaps we need to rethink wage-slavery. John Henry beat the hammer then DIED. Let the hammer be and help John become something else.Nearly half the world's jobs are poised to fall to automation, remember, and only the rich currently stand to benefit.
Beautifully put. This is what intensive reading on the subject of capitalism, socialism, communism and economic theory has taught me: In a capitalist system, efficiency will always be used to increase productivity. Productivity never benefits the worker. If you want to benefit the worker, you need to curb your capitalism. I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that the best compromise between the economic extremes is a capitalist economy governed by socialists.Let the hammer be and help John become something else.
In the USA you might just get away with this, if you called it a "revitalized labor movement", combined with a "renewed war on poverty", or some such. Ix-nay on the ocialism-say ;-)capitalist economy governed by socialists
Count me in. Is it okay if I never want to be a manager and focus on teaching?
I find the use of the semicolon in the appositive introduction even more annoying. Here is a fix: Dear everybody : You are using the term Luddite incorrectly .
In that instance I'd use an em dash followed by lower-case. Dear everybody — you are using the term Luddite incorrectly. Or a simple comma would suffice.
The comma and the colon serve different purposes in the introduction of a letter. The comma is only for correspondence with friends, while colons are for business correspondence. if you write "Dear John:", it's an introduction to a divorce.
I'd hope that we're among friends around here : )