The Real History of the Luddites

Luddites! It’s a dirty word, right? One that’s become synonymous with anti-technology crusaders that want to return us to an idyllic past where everyone is free from their phones. But who were the Luddites? Where does the term come from? How has it been misused and do we, perhaps, need a little more King Ludd in all our lives?Brian Merchant is here to answer all our burning questions about Luddites and his new book Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. He’s a technology columnist at the LA Times now. But Brian is as old school Motherboard as they come. We once made him eat Soylent for a month!Buy Blood in the Machine here.We’re recording CYBER live on Twitch. Watch live during the week. Follow us there to get alerts when we go live. We take questions from the audience and yours might just end up on the show. Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What this episode covers

Luddites! It’s a dirty word, right? One that’s become synonymous with anti-technology crusaders that want to return us to an idyllic past where everyone is free from their phones. But who were the Luddites? Where does the term come from? How has it been misused and do we, perhaps, need a little more King Ludd in all our lives?Brian Merchant is here to answer all our burning questions about Luddites and his new book Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech. He’s a technology columnist at the LA Times now. But Brian is as old school Motherboard as they come. We once made him eat Soylent for a month!Buy Blood in the Machine here.We’re recording CYBER live on Twitch. Watch live during the week. Follow us there to get alerts when we go live. We take questions from the audience and yours might just end up on the show. Subscribe to CYBER on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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This episode is 47 minutes long.

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This episode was published on September 29, 2023.

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