The Luddites weren’t backward technophobes. They saw factory owners using tech to degrade their livelihoods and they fought back — first by trying to negotiate, then writing to Parliament, and finally smashing the machines.

As workers today organize and strike over bosses using digital tech to upend their industries, there’s a lot we can learn from the Luddites’ story. I was thrilled to dig into it with @ac70e44e!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1004689/13638517-the-real-history-of-the-luddites-w-brian-merchant

#tech #history #luddite #workers 

 @7cad1c7d @ac70e44e The real lesson was that they were trying to delay the inevitable. Can you imagine if we were still trying to support the whalebone hoop-skirt industry today "because jobs"?