The Future Encyclopedia of Luddism
January 24, 2021 7:37 AM   Subscribe

Miriam A. Cherry gives a glimpse of an alternative economic and industrial history and future in which the Luddites were successful in their battle against alienating technology. Part of the Economic Science Fictions book.
posted by adrianhon (12 comments total) 35 users marked this as a favorite
 
Oh thank you for this.
posted by furnace.heart at 8:21 AM on January 24, 2021


Fascinating and also, I'm about to burst into tears thinking about all the roads not taken (or rather, blown up, rerouted, and tolled for profit) that could have made this wounded world so much better.
posted by zenzenobia at 9:53 AM on January 24, 2021 [4 favorites]


I mostly liked it, although it fails a bit in some of the specifics of the alternate history, e.g. cancer being cured in 1855. (I get the intent of the passage--that slavery prevented its victims from pursuing professions that might otherwise have benefited all humanity--but they could have had him discover something real decades before it was in our timeline, penicillin, say.) I guess that I'd like the scenario framed a bit more plausibly.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:36 AM on January 24, 2021 [11 favorites]


I suggest we continue this discussion offline.
posted by fairmettle at 10:46 AM on January 24, 2021 [9 favorites]


Where was Karl Marx in this alternate history? Unnecessary?
posted by njohnson23 at 11:28 AM on January 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


These actions boil down to a motto central to Luddite thought: “Principles over property.”

It's like she read my mind!
posted by Luddite at 12:26 PM on January 24, 2021 [7 favorites]


posted by Luddite
posted by doctornemo at 12:59 PM on January 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


Damn you! I was just about to post the Future History. But, all in all, well done.
posted by y2karl at 2:36 PM on January 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


Loved it. Especially the ceremonial meal of Fish and Chips on March 1st (which is also my birthday!) Thanks for posting this.
posted by Chairboy at 2:49 PM on January 24, 2021


Forward-looking 21st Century Luddites are against all past and present technology. The past recedes beyond our reach; the present (unless you're a Party member*) is a flow of perceived moments; and the future remains the only time we can travel into.
*“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
George Orwell, 1984
posted by cenoxo at 3:27 PM on January 24, 2021


A genre of popular entertainment would be the thrilling adventures of a cadre of youthful attractive technological ethicists investigating and exposing exploitive manufacturing processes, and in the final act coming up with a sustainable alternative.
posted by otherchaz at 6:12 PM on January 24, 2021 [1 favorite]


Technology may corrupt and dehumanize people, but it also helps a lot of people get to work on time, so, it;s impossible to say if its bad or not,.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:04 PM on January 25, 2021 [2 favorites]


« Older BrachioGraph: the artistic, inaccurate and very...   |   Two Million Cans Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments