Event date/time: 6-7pm, 15th February 2022
Event location: The White Bear
Reading: an edited extract from “Luddism for These Ludicrous Times” from the blog LibrarianShipwreck
In recent years, critiquing technology has become ever more common: from automated data harvesting on entire populations by the NSA to concerns that self-driving trucks may put thousands out of work, people are concerned about tech’s impact on society. Some even say that we should be turning the clock back on technology, or should dismantle the complex systems that comprise (and govern) our lives.
In this discussion group, we’ll be talking about 21st century Luddism (neo-Luddism), the movement against the widespread advanced technologies, for the sake of helping society. We’ll be asking questions such as:
- Who are Luddites and neo-Luddites?
- Should we adopt Luddism and radically re-think what role technology plays in our lives, perhaps banishing technology altogether?
- What really is ‘technology’, and is its development inevitable?
Further Reading
For an introduction to neo-luddism:
Bartlett, Jamie. “Will 2018 be the year of the neo-luddite?” The Guardian, 2018. Available online at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/04/will-2018-be-the-year-of-the-neo-luddite
Sadowski, Jathan. “I’m a Luddite. You should be one too” The Conversation, 2021. Available online at: https://theconversation.com/im-a-luddite-you-should-be-one-too-163172
To find out more about Luddism and related movements, including anarcho-primitivism:
Jones, Steven E. “Against Technology: From the Luddites to Neo-Luddism”. Routledge, 2006.
Zerzan, John. “Future primitive: And other essays”. New York: Autonomedia, 1994. Available online at: https://libcom.org/files/FuturePrimitive.pdf
For more on ‘epistemological Luddism’:
Winner, Langdon. “Autonomous technology: technics-out-of-control as a theme in political thought”. MIT Press, 1977.
Lachney, Michael and Dotson, Taylor. “Epistemological Luddism: Reinvigorating a Concept for Action in 21st Century Sociotechnical Struggles”. Social Epistemology 32.4 (2018): 228-240. Available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02691728.2018.1476603