luddites & neo-luddism Archives

H. G. Wells' 1895 novel 'The Time Machine' depicted a future where humans split into two species

Poverty/Inequality

Are we about to witness the most unequal societies in history?

1st June 2017

Best-selling author and historian Yuval Noah Harari writes: As we enter the post-industrial world, the masses are becoming redundant. Biotechnology and the rise of Artificial Intelligence may split humankind into a small class of ‘superhumans’ and a huge underclass of ‘useless’ people. Once the masses lose their economic and political power, inequality could spiral alarmingly….

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Bookshelf

Luddites have been getting a bad rap for 200 years. Turns out, they were right

19th May 2017

From Quartz.com: The Luddites were the bands of English workers who destroyed machinery, especially in cotton mills, which they believed was threatening their jobs. As machine learning and robotics consume manufacturing and white-collar jobs alike, New York Times journalist Clive Thompson revisits the Luddite’s history to see what the 200-year-old workers’ rebellion can teach us….