-
8/18/2019 Is It O.K. to Be a Luddite
1/5
-
8/18/2019 Is It O.K. to Be a Luddite
2/5
the ;i!!le ges. ?evertheless, the i!ea of a te#hnoso#ial
''revolution,'' in whi#h the same &eo&le #ame out on
to& as in ran#e an! meri#a, has &roven of use to many
over the years, not least to those who, li(e C. P.
Snow, have thought that in ''"u!!ite'' they have !is#overe! a
way to #all those with whom they !isagree both
&oliti#ally rea#tionary an! anti*#a&italist at the
same time.
)ut the 0for! 3nglish -i#tionary has an interesting tale to
tell. +n 1==9, in a village somewhere in
"ei#estershire, one ?e! "u! bro(e into a house an! ''in a fit of
insane rage'' !estroye! two ma#hines use! for
(nitting hosiery. %or! got aroun!. Soon, whenever a sto#(ing*
frame was foun! sabotage! * this ha! been
going on, se the 3n#y#lo&e!ia )ritanni#a, sin#e about 1=1@ *
fol(s woul! res&on! with the #at#h &hrase ''"u!
must have been here.'' )y the time his name was ta(en u& by
the frame*brea(ers of 1812, histori#al ?e! "u!
was well absorbe! into the more or less sar#asti# ni#(name
''6ing "u!!,'' an! was now all
mystery, resonan#e an! !ar( funA a more*than*human &resen#e,
out in the night, roaming the hosiery !istri#ts
of 3nglan!, &ossesse! by a single #omi# shti#( * every time
he s&ots a sto#(ing*frame he goes #ray an!
&ro#ee!s to trash it.
)ut it's im&ortant to remember that the target even of the
original assault of 1==9, li(e many ma#hines of the
+n!ustrial evolution, was not a new &ie#e of te#hnology. $he
sto#(ing*frame ha! been aroun! sin#e 1589,
when, a##or!ing to the fol(lore, it was invente! by the ev.
%illiam "ee, out of &ure meanness. Seems that
"ee was in love with a young woman who was more intereste! in
her (nitting than in him. 7e'! show u& ather &la#e.
''Sorry, ev, got some (nitting.'' ''%hat, again'' fter a while,
unable to !eal with this (in! of
ree#tion, "ee, not, li(e ?e! "u!, in any fit of insane rage, but
let's imagine logi#ally an! #oolly, vowe! to in
vent a ma#hine that woul! ma(e the han!*(nitting of hosiery
obsolete. n! he !i!. ##or!ing to the
en#y#lo&e!ia, the ilte! #leri#'s frame ''was so &erfe#t
in its #on#e&tion that it #ontinue! to be the only
me#hani#al means of (nitting for hun!re!s of years.''
?ow, given that (in! of time s&an, it's ust not easy
to thin( of ?e! "u! as a te#hno&hobi# #ray. ?o !oubt
what &eo&le a!mire! an! mythologie! him for was the
vigor an! single*min!e!ness of his assault. )ut the
wor!s ''fit of insane rage'' are thir!*han! an! at least 8 years
after the event. n! ?e! "u!'s anger was not
!ire#te! at the ma#hines, not e0a#tly. + li(e to thin( of it
more as the #ontrolle!, martial*arts ty&e anger of the
!e!i#ate! )a!ass.
$here is a long fol( history of this figure, the )a!ass. 7e is
usually male, an! while sometimes earning the
uii#al toleran#e of women, is almost universally a!mire! by men
for two basi# virtuesA he is )a!, an! he is
)ig. )a! meaning not morally evil, ne#essarily, more li(e able
to wor( mis#hief on a large s#ale. %hat is
im&ortant here is the am&lifying of s#ale, the
multi&li#ation of effe#t.
$he (nitting ma#hines whi#h &rovo(e! the first "u!!ite
!isturban#es ha! been &utting &eo&le out of wor(
for
well over two #enturies. 3verybo!y saw this ha&&ening *
it be#ame &art of !aily life. $hey also saw the
ma#hines #oming more an! more to be the &ro&erty of men
who !i! not wor(, only owne! an! hire!. +t too(
no Berman &hiloso&her, then or later, to &oint out
what this !i!, ha! been !oing, to wages an! obs. Publi#
feeling about the ma#hines #oul! never have been sim&le
unreasoning horror, but li(ely something more
#om&le0A the love/hate that grows u& between humans an!
ma#hinery * es&e#ially when it's been aroun! for awhile * not
to mention serious resentment towar! at least two
multi&li#ations of effe#t that were seen as unfair
an! threatening. ne was the #on#entration of #a&ital that
ea#h ma#hine re&resente!, an! the other was the
ability of ea#h ma#hine to &ut a #ertain number of humans
out of wor( * to be ''worth'' that many human souls.
%hat gave 6ing "u!! his s&e#ial )a! #harisma, too( him from
lo#al hero to nationwi!e &ubli# enemy, was
that he went u& against these am&lifie!, multi&lie!,
more than human o&&onents an! &revaile!. %hen times
are har!, an! we feel at the mer#y of for#es many times more
&owerful, !on't we, in see(ing some eualier,
turn, if only in imagination, in wish, to the )a!ass * the !inn,
the golem, the hul(, the su&erhero * who will
resist what otherwise woul! overwhelm us f #ourse, the real or
se#ular frame*bashing was still being !one
by every!ay fol(s, tra!e unionists ahea! of their time,
using the night, an! their own soli!arity an! !is#i&line,
to a#hieve their multi&li#ations of effe#t.
+t was o&en*eye! #lass war. $he movement ha! its
Parliamentary allies, among them "or! )yron, whosemai!en s&ee#h
in the 7ouse of "or!s in 1812 #om&assionately argue! against a
bill &ro&osing, among other
re&ressive measures, to ma(e frame*brea(ing &unishable
by !eath. ''re you not near the "u!!ites'' he wrote
-
8/18/2019 Is It O.K. to Be a Luddite
3/5
from eni#e to $homas ;oore. '')y the "or!D if there's a row, but
+'ll be among yeD 7ow go on the weavers *
the brea(ers of frames * the "utherans of &oliti#s * the
reformers'' 7e in#lu!es an ''amiable chanson, '' whi#h
&roves to be a "u!!ite hymn so inflammatory that it
wasn't &ublishe! till after the &oet's !eath. $he letter
is
!ate! -e#ember 181A )yron ha! s&ent the summer &revious
in Switerlan!, #oo&e! u& for a while in the
illa -io!ati with the Shelleys, wat#hing the rain #ome !own,
while they all tol! ea#h other ghost stories. )y
that -e#ember, as it ha&&ene!, ;ary Shelley was wor(ing
on Cha&ter our of her novel ''ran(enstein, or the
;o!ern Prometheus.''
+f there were su#h a genre as the "u!!ite novel, this one,
warning of what #an ha&&en when te#hnology, an!
those who &ra#ti#e it, get out of han!, woul! be the first
an! among the best. i#tor ran(enstein's #reature
also, surely, ualifies as a maor literary )a!ass. ''+ resolve! .
. .,'' i#tor tells us, ''to ma(e the being of a
giganti# stature, that is to say, about eight feet in height,
an! &ro&ortionably large,'' whi#h ta(es #are of )ig.
$he story of how he got to be so )a! is the heart of the novel,
sheltere! innermostA tol! to i#tor in the first
&erson by the #reature himself, then neste! insi!e of
i#tor's own narrative, whi#h is neste! in its turn in the
letters of the ar#ti# e0&lorer obert %alton. 7owever mu#h of
''ran(enstein's'' longevity is owing to the
un!ersung genius :ames %hale, who translate! it to film, it
remains to!ay more than well worth rea!ing, for
all the reasons we rea! novels, as well as for the mu#h more
limite! uestion of its "u!!ite valueA that is, for
its attem&t, through literary means whi#h are no#turnal an!
!eal in !isguise, to deny the machine.
"oo(, for e0am&le, at i#tor's a##ount of how he assembles
an! animates his #reature. 7e must, of #ourse, be
a little vague about the !etails, but we're left with a
&ro#e!ure that seems to in#lu!e surgery, ele#tri#ity
-
8/18/2019 Is It O.K. to Be a Luddite
4/5
an! afterlife, for salvation * bo!ily resurre#tion, if
&ossible * remaine!. $he ;etho!ist movement an! the
meri#an Breat wa(ening were only two se#tors on a broa! front of
resistan#e to the ge of eason, a front
whi#h in#lu!e! a!i#alism an! reemasonry as well as "u!!ites an!
the Bothi# novel. 3a#h in its way
e0&resse! the same &rofoun! unwillingness to give u&
elements of faith, however ''irrational,'' to an emerging
te#hno&oliti#al or!er that might or might not (now what it
was !oing. ''Bothi#'' be#ame #o!e for ''me!ieval,''
an! that has remaine! #o!e for ''mira#ulous,'' on through
Pre*a&haelites, turn*of*the*#entury tarot #ar!s,
s&a#e o&era in the &ul&s an! the #omi#s, !own to
''Star %ars'' an! #ontem&orary tales of swor! an! sor#ery.
$ insist on the mira#ulous is to !eny to the ma#hine at least
some of its #laims on us, to assert the limite!
wish that living things, earthly an! otherwise, may on o##asion
be#ome )a! an! )ig enough to ta(e &art in
trans#en!ent !oings. )y this theory, for e0am&le, 6ing 6ong
be#omes your #lassi# "u!!ite saint.
$he final !ialogue in the movie, you re#all, goesA ''%ell, the
air&lanes got him.'' ''?o . . . it was )eauty (ille!
the )east.'' +n whi#h again we en#ounter the same Snovian
-isun#tion, only !ifferent, between the human an!
the te#hnologi#al.
)ut if we !o insist u&on fi#tional violations of the laws of
nature * of s&a#e, time, thermo!ynami#s, an! the
big one, mortality itself * then we ris( being u!ge! by
the literary mainstream as +nsuffi#iently Serious. )eing
serious about these matters is one way that a!ults have
tra!itionally !efine! themselves against the #onfi!ently
immortal #hil!ren they must !eal with. "oo(ing ba#( on
''ran(enstein,'' whi#h she wrote when she was 19,;ary Shelley sai!,
''+ have an affe#tion for it, for it was the offs&ring of
ha&&y !ays, when !eath an! grief
were but wor!s whi#h foun! no true e#ho in my heart.'' $he
Bothi# attitu!e in general, be#ause it use! images
of !eath an! ghostly survival towar! no more res&onsible en!
than s&e#ial effe#ts an! #hea& thrills, was
u!ge! not Serious enough an! #onfine! to its own &art
of town. +t is not the only neighborhoo! in the great
City of "iterature so, let us say, #losely !efine!. +n westerns,
the goo! &eo&le always win. +n roman#e novels,
love #onuers all. +n who!unitsses we (now better. %e say, '')ut
the worl! isn't li(e that.'' $hese genres, by
insisting on what is #ontrary to fa#t, fail to be Serious
enough, an! so they get re!line! un!er the label
''es#a&ist fare.''
$his is es&e#ially unfortunate in the #ase of s#ien#e
fi#tion, in whi#h the !e#a!e after 7iroshima saw one of
the most remar(able flowerings of literary talent an!, uite
often, genius, in our history. +t was ust as
im&ortant as the )eat movement going on at the same time,
#ertainly more im&ortant than mainstream fi#tion,whi#h with
only a few e0#e&tions ha! been &aralye! by the
&oliti#al #limate of the #ol! war an! ;#Carthy
years. )esi!es being a nearly i!eal synthesis of the $wo
Cultures, s#ien#e fi#tion also ha&&ens to have been
one of the &rin#i&al refuges, in our time, for those of
"u!!ite &ersuasion.
)y 1945, the fa#tory system * whi#h, more than any &ie#e of
ma#hinery, was the real an! maor result of the
+n!ustrial evolution * ha! been e0ten!e! to in#lu!e the
;anhattan Proe#t, the Berman long*range ro#(et
&rogram an! the !eath #am&s, su#h as us#hwit. +t
has ta(en no maor gift of &ro&he#y to see how these
three #urves of !evelo&ment might &lausibly #onverge,
an! before too long. Sin#e 7iroshima, we have
wat#he! nu#lear wea&ons multi&ly out of #ontrol, an!
!elivery systems a#uire, for global &ur&oses, unlimite!
range an! a##ura#y. n unblin(ing a##e&tan#e of a holo#aust
running to seven* an! eight*figure bo!y #ounts
has be#ome * among those who, &arti#ularly sin#e 198@, have
been gui!ing our military &oli#ies *
#onventional wis!om.
$o &eo&le who were writing s#ien#e fi#tion in the 5@'s,
none of this was mu#h of a sur&rise, though mo!ern
"u!!ite imaginations have yet to #ome u& with any
#ounter#ritter )a! an! )ig enough, even in the most
irres&onsible of fi#tions, to begin to #om&are with what
woul! ha&&en in a nu#lear war. So, in the s#ien#e
fi#tion of the tomi# ge an! the #ol! war, we see the "u!!ite
im&ulse to !eny the ma#hine ta(ing a !ifferent
!ire#tion. $he har!ware angle got !e*em&hasie! in favor of
more humanisti# #on#erns * e0oti# #ultural
evolutions an! so#ial s#enarios, &ara!o0es an! games with
s&a#e/ time, wil! &hiloso&hi#al uestions * most
of
it sharing, as the #riti#al literature has am&ly !is#usse!,
a !efinition of ''human'' as &arti#ularly !istinguishe!
from ''ma#hine.'' "i(e their earlier #ounter&arts,
2@th*#entury "u!!ites loo(e! ba#( yearningly to another age *
#uriously, the same ge of eason whi#h ha! for#e! the first
"u!!ites into nostalgia for the ge of ;ira#les.
)ut we now live, we are tol!, in the Com&uter ge. %hat is
the outloo( for "u!!ite sensibility %ill
mainframes attra#t the same hostile attention as (nitting frames
on#e !i! + really !oubt it. %riters of all
-
8/18/2019 Is It O.K. to Be a Luddite
5/5
!es#ri&tions are stam&e!ing to buy wor! &ro#essors.
;a#hines have alrea!y be#ome so user*frien!ly that even
the most unre#onstru#te! of "u!!ites #an be #harme! into laying
!own the ol! sle!gehammer an! stro(ing a
few (eys instea!. )eyon! this seems to be a growing #onsensus
that (nowle!ge really is &ower, that there is a
&retty straightforwar! #onversion between money an!
information, an! that somehow, if the logisti#s #an be
wor(e! out, mira#les may yet be &ossible. +f this is so,
"u!!ites may at last have #ome to stan! on #ommon
groun! with their Snovian a!versaries, the #heerful army of
te#hno#rats who were su&&ose! to have the
''future in their bones.'' +t may be only a new form of the
&erennial "u!!ite ambivalen#e about ma#hines, or it
may be that the !ee&est "u!!ite ho&e of mira#le has now
#ome to resi!e in the #om&uter's ability to get theright !ata
to those whom the !ata will !o the most goo!. %ith the
&ro&er !e&loyment of bu!get an! #om&uter
time, we will #ure #an#er, save ourselves from nu#lear
e0tin#tion, grow foo! for everybo!y, !eto0ify the
results of in!ustrial gree! gone berser( * realie all the
wistful &i&e !reams of our !ays.
$73 wor! ''"u!!ite'' #ontinues to be a&&lie! with
#ontem&t to anyone with !oubts about te#hnology,
es&e#ially the nu#lear (in!. "u!!ites to!ay are no longer
fa#e! with human fa#tory owners an! vulnerable
ma#hines. s well*(nown Presi!ent an! unintentional "u!!ite -. -.
3isenhower &ro&hesie! when he left
offi#e, there is now a &ermanent &ower establishment of
a!mirals, generals an! #or&orate C3's, u& against
whom us average &oor bastar!s are #om&letely out#lasse!,
although +(e !i!n't &ut it uite that way. %e are all
su&&ose! to (ee& tranuil an! allow it to go on, even
though, be#ause of the !ata revolution, it be#omes every
!ay less &ossible to fool any of the &eo&le any of
the time. +f our worl! survives, the ne0t great #hallenge towat#h
out for will #ome * you hear! it here first * when the #urves of
resear#h an! !evelo&ment in artifi#ial
intelligen#e, mole#ular biology an! roboti#s all #onverge. boy.
+t will be amaing an! un&re!i#table, an!
even the biggest of brass, let us !evoutly ho&e, are going
to be #aught flat*foote!. +t is #ertainly something for
all goo! "u!!ites to loo( forwar! to if, Bo! willing, we shoul!
live so long. ;eantime, as meri#ans, we #an
ta(e #omfort, however minimal an! #ol!, from "or! )yron's
mis#hievously im&rovise! song, in whi#h he, li(e
other observers of the time, saw #lear i!entifi#ation between
the first "u!!ites an! our own revolutionary
origins. +t beginsA
As the Liberty lads o'er the sea
Bought their freedom, and cheaply, with blood,
So we, boys, we
Will die fighting, or live free, And down with all kings
but ing Ludd!
