An anti-technology movement from early 19th century Britain has long been part of our lexicon. Luddites were knitters who destroyed textile machines to protect their jobs. Today the term applies to anyone who fights a crusade against the modern economy.
Original Luddites weren’t against technology per se, Smithsonian magazine explained, but only attacked manufacturers “who used machines in what they called ‘a fraudulent and deceitful manner’ to get around standard labor practices.”
California’s modern-day Luddites don’t commit acts of violence against Google, Uber, Amazon and other firms that have shaken up the existing economic order. No one is toasting cellphones in bonfires or sabotaging Federal Express delivery vans, but these New Luddites have used the courts and the legislative process to throw that figurative wrench in the machine. Indeed, the biggest redoubt of Luddite-ism appears to be the California Supreme Court, which in April issued a ruling that has threatened to grind California’s high-tech economy to a halt, writes Steven Greenhut.
from Hit & Run http://bit.ly/2BJqpek
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