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ad_hockeytoday at 10:54 AM2 repliesview on HN

That does the Luddites a bit of a disservice:

> But the Luddites themselves “were totally fine with machines,” says Kevin Binfield, editor of the 2004 collection Writings of the Luddites. They confined their attacks to manufacturers who used machines in what they called “a fraudulent and deceitful manner” to get around standard labor practices. “They just wanted machines that made high-quality goods,” says Binfield, “and they wanted these machines to be run by workers who had gone through an apprenticeship and got paid decent wages. Those were their only concerns.”[1]

[1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-the-luddites-rea...


Replies

1gn15today at 11:41 AM

In that case, the neo-Luddites are worse than the original Luddites, then? Since many are definitely not "totally fine with the machines", and definitely do not confine their attacks only on the manufacturers that go against worker rights, but they include the average person in their attacks. And the original Luddites already got a lot of hate for attempting to hold back progress.

wtcactustoday at 8:39 PM

That seems a lot like the beef people have nowadays with AI. They also want machines, they love their iPhones and MacBooks.

They just don't like it when the machines are able to do the mediocre job they get paid to do.

Imagine if we had listened to the Luddites back in the day...