Every time I see something like someone supporting AI art or AI drones being used to police entire cities it makes me frustrated in a way that I can’t even really describe.

Technology is being used to replace labor, not by outmoding irrelevant jobs but by simply shifting who does the work so that the company spends less on wages. The world’s first video call drive-through, serviced by some guy being paid pennies a day. Technological innovations made and developed under capitalism will have the question of “how can we make money off of this” asked first in their development.

I’m not one to advocate a complete removal of all technology, that would be nonsense, it’s just that something must change.

The original Luddites were workers, factory workers to be specific. They opposed the use of automated machinery due to concerns about worker pay and the quality of the resulting work. That’s why they opposed and destroyed machinery. They were worried it would replace them. I think to some extent we’re all tired of it.

There’s so much going on nowadays. Infinite growth, the boundless excess caused by capitalism, is the philosophy of the cancer cell. When the single point holding things together fails, they collapse. Nature around us is being torn down. The planet is dying, all because of ten-something people on Earth.

You can kind of see it with modern cell phones. How many things do you need your phone for? Map, communication, transportation, maybe ID or credit card? What would happen if it suddenly broke?

Modern technology is a disease. Human form is not the dominant species; we are simply part of this world. Even with all the technology in the world, the blighted tools that pump diseases into the air, you are no better than a beast.

There are so many parts of technology that are used to further our own biases: surveillance, over-automation, automatic policing and policing in general using electronic profiling. And yet it just keeps on growing.

“Mill and factory owners took to shooting protesters and eventually the movement was suppressed by legal and military force, which included execution and penal transportation of accused and convicted Luddites.” (From the Wikipedia article for Luddites)

And the capitalists shot protesters.

You must remember that the Luddites were civilians, workers, the common man. They were machine-breakers, yes, and they did have violent activity, but they were average people. So, sending an entire militia of twelve thousand soldiers in to disband the Luddites is barbaric. But they shot civilians, Luddite protesters. They are always violent whenever their trinkets and toys and capital is threatened, and yet they never learn.

Keep moving, keep hoping, keep speaking for your fellow man. Corporations and their ilk tempt you, but do not be swayed by empty promises and electronic false gods. There is a path to walk, and it is the path of technological resistance, the strength to turn away from decadence. It is the path of Ludd!