The Luddite Renaissance is in full swing

Greetings all,

Hope everyone’s hanging in there. Another week, another slipslide into fascism. The Kirk killing has, as many anticipated, served as a pretext for the Trump administration and its allies to begin a concerted attack on their critics and opposition. Trump designated ‘Antifa’ as a terrorist group, despite “anti-fascism” being an ideology, not an organization. Brendan Carr, Trump’s FCC chair, pressured Disney into sacking Jimmy Kimmel; its executive leadership immediately complied. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s X continues to serve as a megaphone for supporters of the above campaign and for calls for violence against trans people and the left.

No wonder the kids want to pull the plug. After all, if there’s hope to be found in this moment, it will be found in solidarity, in organizing, and in refusal of a world dictated by authoritarians and tech oligarchs. Which is why I’m especially pleased to report that we’re beginning to see what’s shaping up to be a genuine, youth-led, modern-day Luddite uprising.

A loose constellation of grassroots collectives, orgs, and clubs, ranging from New York’s Luddite Club to Silicon Valley’s APPstinence, has gotten together and dubbed this fall the “Luddite Renaissance.” Students, activists, tech whistleblowers, and self-proclaimed Luddites have been undertaking a series of actions, readings, and protests that will culminate next weekend, on September 27, at what they’re calling the S.H.I.T.P.H.O.N.E. (Scathing Hatred of Information Technology and the Passionate Hemorrhaging of Our Neo-liberal Experience) rally at the High Line in New York City. I would love to be there, but alas it’s on the wrong coast. (If you can make it to Manhattan that day, I’m very jealous; drop a line and let me know how it went.)

But it’s not just the Luddite Club and the S.H.I.T.P.H.O.N.E.rs, either. It seems that since last year, when I wrote about the New Luddites rising up to resist and refuse AI, from anti-gen AI creatives to Waymo combatants to gig workers fighting Uber, this loosest of movements has only broadened. Anger at AI, smartphones, and social media—and more specifically, at the exploitative practices of the companies operating them—has galvanized people all over the world, from the youth above, to artists and advocates and academics.

Cognitive scientists, university professors and teachers are taking a harder line against generative AI in schools. Mutual aid and political action groups like Stop Gen AI have formed to support workers impacted by management embracing ...