Lentis/Neoluddism and Technophilia

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Illustration of Moore's Law taken from the Wikipedia page. Since 1950, The number of transistors in the same area has doubled every year.

Society has developed and adopted new technologies quicker than every before. Although many believe that Moore's Law is reaching the end of its validity,[1] it still illustrates how society has pushed technological innovation in recent years. Moore's Law is just one example of how quickly new technologies enter society. Developers constantly look for new products to push to consumers, and consumers demand the latest and greatest from these developers. Many large technology companies like Apple release new versions of their products annually and still see sales increase on new versions.[2] Reactions to this reality fall on two ends of a spectrum. At one end, opposing adoption of new technology, is the neo-luddite ideology. On the other end are technophiles who associate a new technology with an inherent benefit for society.

Neoluddism

Definition

According to Chellis Glendinning, a leading neo-luddite writer, “Neo-Luddites are 20th century citizens — activists, workers, neighbors, social critics, and scholars — who question the predominant modern worldview, which preaches that unbridled technology represents progress.”[3]

History

The original Luddites were a group of 19th century British textile workers. Their livelihoods were threatened by new machines that mechanized the production process. They set out to destroy these machines to protect their way of life, and not for ideological motives. Through historical misinterpretation and popular culture, the term has evolved to describe anyone who is opposed to technological progress. It can often be derogatory, even though the original Luddites had no such qualms. This erroneous historiography has caused the common misconception that the Luddites were a violent anti-technology activist group. In reality, they were laborers fighting for their jobs.[4]

When modern critics of technological progress were organizing in the late 20th century, they looked to the historical, ideological image of the 19th century Luddites for inspiration and called themselves Neo-Luddites. Critics of technology abounded throughout the 20th century, but the Neo-Luddite movement gained some structure when Chellis Glendinning wrote the “Notes toward a Neo-Luddite Manifesto.” In her notes, Glendinning defines the principles of Neo-Luddism. She states that “Neo-Luddites are not anti-technology” but oppose all forms of technology that are harmful to the human race. She contends that most modern technologies are harmful. Neo-Luddites favor the dismantling of all harmful technologies and the search for technologies that can benefit society. This manifesto does not explicitly condone or condemn violence. It does, however, express the impetus to completely upset the modern technical world order.[3]

Modern Examples

Neo-Luddism is a movement with no organizational structure. Any person ascribing to the general sentiment expressed in Glendinning’s writing could classify themselves as a Neo-Luddite. Activist groups do not typically associate themselves directly with Neo-Luddism, however their ideologies and actions often follow the principles described by Glendinning. Neo-Luddism frequently manifests itself visibly in the form of environmentalism. The most well-known example is "EarthFirst!", a radical environmentalist group that supports civil disobedience to further many environmental causes.[5] Their website implicitly condones self-immolation for attention[6]. They champion a shift from an anthropocentric society to an eco-centric society[5], a variation of the Neo-Luddist focus on shifting away from a techno-centric society.

An FBI reproduction of a bomb created by Kaczynski

Neo-Luddism occasionally results in violence. The infamous Ted Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, engaged in an eighteen-year long mail bombing campaign that was intended to bring down the technological system. He killed three and wounded twenty-eight people.[7] His creed was closely aligned to the one espoused by Glendinning with an additional emphasis on punishing those responsible.[8] This type of violence persists today. The Mexican terrorist group Individuals Tended Toward Savagery claimed several shootings and bombings of prominent scientists and researchers in order to prevent the proliferation of a supposed nano-particle goo that has the potential to cause a global apocalypse. They were inspired by Ted Kaczynski.[9] These Neo-Luddites used murder to express their convictions. Neo-Luddism is a radical ideology. When it is acted upon, the results are often correspondingly extreme. In so doing, Neo-Luddites have seriously damaged society.

Technophilia

Before analyzing some cases of technophilia, we must discuss its definition. A technophile is defined as “One who has a love of or enthusiasm for technology, especially computers and high technology.” Some might consider this to be a more conservative definition, as this term is typically associated with a obsession rather than enthusiasm. While it’s impossible to say with certainty that technophilia is “good” or “bad” for a person, there are certainly many different forms of this obsession, and to varying degrees.

The word’s origin can be traced to the 1960’s — a period in which the world saw an explosion of new technologies. The decade saw significant strides in space exploration, television, automobiles, music production equipment, and most importantly, computers. While many of these technologies were still very primitive compared to the present day, they were quite advanced for the time and drew a lot of attention.

Case Studies

The iPhone

In June, 2007, Apple released the iPhone. The success of the project has continued to increase over the years as each of the eight generations have been released. For size comparison, Apple’s iPhone alone generates more revenue than all of Microsoft. [10] Apple has created a product that not only does what it’s technically prescribed to do, but conforms to social constructs by creating a visually-appealing product as well. This has been essential in Apple’s success, and likely explains why many people are willing to pay a premium price for the iPhone.

Line at Apple Store in NYC

Above all, however, this has created a unique culture around the product itself. In 2006, SanDisk launched a marketing campaign to promote their own products, encouraging people to avoid being “iSheep.” [11] They coined the term to describe the many people that religiously purchase Apple products seemingly because there’s a new product to buy. The term has since remained in use, and serves as one example of the product culture Apple has created. Every time a new product is released, there will undoubtedly be people lining up outside the store for hours and sometimes days to get their hands on the new item. While some of their releases have had significant changes from the previous generation, many only feature minor changes yet still yield the same fervor.

Tesla Motors

Alternative energy transportation is nothing new, but in recent years companies like Tesla Motors have certainly given them a new look. A simple search in Google’s N-Gram Viewer can show that “alternative energy” was barely talked about prior to the 1970’s, and peaked in the early 1980’s. Oil prices were hitting new premiums, prompting a change in the way we looked at non-renewable energies. For decades, however, electric and hybrid cars were not efficient enough to be worth the high costs and inconvenience of finding a charging station.

In 2003, Tesla Motors began a new era of electric vehicles. Much like Apple, Tesla took special care to craft a product that satisfies the technical objective of creating an electric vehicle and also the social need of having a visually appealing product. The result is a series of cars with a sports car exterior and a high-tech interior, complete with a large touch-screen display and entirely digital interfaces.

Despite the strong visual appeal of these cars, their actual efficiency and “eco-friendliness” is debatable. Tesla argues that their vehicles are 100% clean individually, since they don’t burn any fuel onboard and therefore produce zero carbon emissions. Seeing as approximately 40% of U.S. power is produced from burning coal, however, you must look at where the electricity is coming from to get a true representation of the car’s emissions, which many calculate to be comparable to an internal combustion engine car of similar size. [12] There is significant evidence supporting this claim, which poises us to ask the question: “is it worth it?” If we assume a Tesla vehicle has no ecological advantage over other vehicles on the market, then clearly there is another factor in the company’s success.

Conclusion

Neo-Luddites represent an extreme reaction against what they view as the status quo in society today. This extremism is not a new phenomenon. Two cases provide examples of other individuals who have challenged a social norm in a way that led to violence.

John Brown

John Brown was an abolitionist in the 19th Century United States. He is know for his violent attacks against slaveholders prior to the Civil War. In his last and most well-known attack, Brown briefly took over the Federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He was subsequently captured at Harper's Ferry and then tried and executed. Brown's motivation for his violence was in protest to the existence of slavery within the United States. He viewed slavery as a moral wrong and believed that it could no longer be accepted as the norm. His extreme reactions are an analogy to how some Neo-Luddites respond to what they view as a society dominated by technophilia.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx reacted to a perceived status quo in Europe around the same time that John Brown acted in the United States. Marx saw Europe's rapid industrialization and acceptance of capitalist ideologies as a threat to the common working class. He asserted that the working class, or proletariat, would eventually take power and establish a society free from class distinctions. Although not as blatantly violent as Brown's actions, Marx's ideas still represented a radical reaction to a perceived norm in society. His ideas laid the groundwork for violent and powerful revolutions over the next century aimed at disrupting the status quo of society by unseating the capitalists from power.

How Can Extreme Reactions Prove Beneficial?

Although violence and extremism should never be the first path for addressing an issue, the extremists viewpoints can address inherent flaws that it may be hard for people with a society to see. While people today clearly see the problems with slavery, there were not so clear to those in the 1850s. John Brown's actions at least shed light on the problems with the system. Similarly, Karl Marx hoped to address the exploitation of workers that came with a capitalist society. Although his solution can be viewed as overly extreme, his viewpoints addressed a serious issue. Do the viewpoints of Neo-Luddites help us in a similar way? Even if they are extreme, do they help to expose the problems with a society consumed with new technology?

References

  1. ↑ Paul, Ian. (2013). "The End of Moore's Law is on the Horizon". pcworld.com.
  2. ↑ Appple. (2014) "First Weekend iPhone Sales Top 10 Million, Set New Record". apple.com
  3. 1 2 Glendinning, Chellis. (1990) “Notes toward a Neo-Luddite Manifesto.” theanarchistlibrary.org.
  4. ↑ Linton, D. (1992) “THE LUDDITES: How did they get that bad reputation?” Labor History.
  5. 1 2 earthfirst.org
  6. ↑ Author unknown, (2014) “Mexico: Man Self-Immolates For Release of Indigenous Political Prisoner.” earthfirstjournal.org
  7. ↑ Glaberson, William. (1998). “Accepts Life Term Without Parole and Forgoes Right to Appeal: THE UNABOMBER CASE: The Guilty Plea THE[ OVERVIEW Kaczynski Pleads Guilty to Unabom Attacks and Accepts a Life Sentence” New York Times.
  8. ↑ Kaczyinski, Ted. Date unknown. “The Coming Revolution.” Theanarchistlibrary.org
  9. ↑ Ingersoll, Geoffrey. (2013) “Mexican Anarchists Are Blowing Up Scientists And The Government Is Freaked” Business Insider. businessinsider.com
  10. ↑ Eichenwald, Kurt. (2012). "Microsoft's Lost Decade". Vanity Fair. vanityfair.com
  11. ↑ Angell, LC. (2006). "Sandisk Launches "iDont" Anti-ipod Campaign" ilounge.com
  12. ↑ Oremus, Will. Date Unknown. "How Green is a Tesla, Really?" slate.com
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