You say that Ludditism leads to a hatred of mankind. I'm not so sure. I agree with you that our technological progress is deeply human. But is it not also human to discipline oneself? To say, "No" to your desires because your reason knows where they lead? Did not humans develop the heroin needle, and yet isn't it also human to scorn heroin addiction? I don't see why a society or community which "Retvrned" wouldn't be enacting something human in their own way, too. I think of the Amish, who are certainly the greatest contemporary example of Ludditism there is. Do they "hate" mankind? I don't think so. They seem quite human, in fact, and a high percentage of youths choose to stay in the Amish community even after experiencing modern life, which might indicate Ludditism is not so humanity-denying as it might seem.
I agree that it's human to discipline yourself, to deny counterproductive impulses and integrate action with a system of value. I certainly don't think we should use our technologies mindlessly.
But I think a society that "retvrns" does hate part of what it is to be human, and I think the Amish are actually a good example of how life-denying a rejection of technological and social progress actually is. If society as a whole had acted like the Amish, infant mortality would still be what it was before modern medicine. We would never have gone to the moon. Great talents in art and music and science would've been stifled and destroyed before they ever could have offered their gifts to the world. We would be terribly impoverished, both physically and spiritually. The Amish have certain virtues, but they live stunted and impoverished lives compared to what is possible outside.
I think the reason that so many Amish return is probably twofold: one, Amish kids are unprepared for life in an alien outside world, so they return to what is safe and familiar and good to them; and two, there is probably genetic selection, i.e., smarter and more open-minded Amish have self-selected out of the gene pool over multiple generations.
Yes, I think you’re probably right. I am so horrified by what I see technology doing to us (more or less for the reasons you expressed in your first essay in this series) that I instinctively gravitate towards anti-technological views and may tend to romanticize less technologically advanced ages and cultures. But perhaps the only way forward is through. Maybe we will develop a healthy way of living with technology, although I don’t see much hope of that at the moment (I see much more a decaying, degenerating society that increasingly doesn’t even realize what it has lost)
You say that Ludditism leads to a hatred of mankind. I'm not so sure. I agree with you that our technological progress is deeply human. But is it not also human to discipline oneself? To say, "No" to your desires because your reason knows where they lead? Did not humans develop the heroin needle, and yet isn't it also human to scorn heroin addiction? I don't see why a society or community which "Retvrned" wouldn't be enacting something human in their own way, too. I think of the Amish, who are certainly the greatest contemporary example of Ludditism there is. Do they "hate" mankind? I don't think so. They seem quite human, in fact, and a high percentage of youths choose to stay in the Amish community even after experiencing modern life, which might indicate Ludditism is not so humanity-denying as it might seem.
I agree that it's human to discipline yourself, to deny counterproductive impulses and integrate action with a system of value. I certainly don't think we should use our technologies mindlessly.
But I think a society that "retvrns" does hate part of what it is to be human, and I think the Amish are actually a good example of how life-denying a rejection of technological and social progress actually is. If society as a whole had acted like the Amish, infant mortality would still be what it was before modern medicine. We would never have gone to the moon. Great talents in art and music and science would've been stifled and destroyed before they ever could have offered their gifts to the world. We would be terribly impoverished, both physically and spiritually. The Amish have certain virtues, but they live stunted and impoverished lives compared to what is possible outside.
I think the reason that so many Amish return is probably twofold: one, Amish kids are unprepared for life in an alien outside world, so they return to what is safe and familiar and good to them; and two, there is probably genetic selection, i.e., smarter and more open-minded Amish have self-selected out of the gene pool over multiple generations.
Yes, I think you’re probably right. I am so horrified by what I see technology doing to us (more or less for the reasons you expressed in your first essay in this series) that I instinctively gravitate towards anti-technological views and may tend to romanticize less technologically advanced ages and cultures. But perhaps the only way forward is through. Maybe we will develop a healthy way of living with technology, although I don’t see much hope of that at the moment (I see much more a decaying, degenerating society that increasingly doesn’t even realize what it has lost)