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0 pointsTeMPOraL1y ago0 comments

The Luddites haven't been criticizing cars for anything, given how they came and went 50 years before a first proper car was built.

And, if anything, the Luddites were not anti-technology, they were anti-being fucked over by capitalists. The problem they rose up against wasn't the automatic looms, it was the way they were deployed - to replace skilled workers instead of augmenting them, depressing salaries and eliminating jobs across the industry. The Luddites weren't fighting progress, they were fighting to keep themselves and their descendants from destitution.

Alas, since technology was involved and technology is magic, the misconception about the Luddites has spread wide and persists to date, conveniently distracting everyone from what the actual problem was. Compare with everyone today whining about "tech bros" and the supposed folly of "solving social problems with technology", which is both wrong and entirely missing the real problem, which is the same as the ones Luddites fought and lost to.

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3 comments · 2 top-level

cogman101y ago· 1 in thread

Yup, the parallel is the dream of a lot of the AI companies "Hey look, this LLM can maybe come in and do 80% of the work, so maybe you don't need 80% of your staff? Certainly you don't need the most expensive members".

That's effectively the scenario that Luddites found themselves in. Looms came in and decimated previously well paying jobs and the owners of the looms basically told the skilled workers to pound sand.

Spooky231y ago

The luddites were smart.

I listen to the dev guys at work gush about how they are like 40% productive with LLMs, and look at their budget asks. Hmm.

samatman1y ago

Calling someone a Luddite doesn't mean you're saying they're a textile worker organized by Ned Ludd.

So it doesn't matter what the historic Luddites were or were not, because it's not a statement about them at all.

You know this perfectly well, and are merely pretending to misunderstand what's meant.

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