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Fear of Technological Progress: Comments on Anti-technology Movements

Summary/Abstract: Today one can observe two very general approaches to technology: positive and negative. The first treats technology as something that is fundamentally good. In the negative approach technology is regarded as something that is a threat to humans. These attitudes are manifested in the context of certain social movements. The object of the analysis is the negative approach to technology that exists on the basis of Romanticism, Neo-Luddism and Luddism and ecological trends. The first stage of the analysis identifies the term designated as technology: (1) technology as a kind of knowledge about the rules which are needed in order to create the material resources that enable cost-effective ways of achieving their objectives; (2) technology as the ability to perform certain activities; (3) technology as artifacts. The first trend is Romanticism, which is a form of opposition to industrialization and the destruction of nature. Another trend is Luddism (which appeared as workers’ opposition movement against the replacement of their work by machines) and Neo-Luddism, a modern continuation of Luddism. The essential feature of Neo-Luddism is the belief that technology is the enemy of a well-lived life. The author then presents current ecological trends, the main reference point being nature. These trends all share in common a negative attitude towards technology, which is manifested in the following postulates: (1) the complete elimination of technologies that are a threat; (2) or the replacement of these techniques with a safer one. The main difference between these currents lies in the belief that for Luddism most import_ant is the spiritual and physical health of the human being, whereas for ecology it is nature.

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