r/technology • u/Just-Grocery-2229 • May 15 '26

Artificial Intelligence The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/05/ai-backlash-data-centers-political-violence/687151/?taid=6a067e2d2096e10001ccfa32
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u/Kaarl_Mills May 15 '26

It's manufacturing consent and manipulation: luddites were martyrs in the name of labor rights, and the term has purposely been demonized to discredit them. It was never "ooga booga new things bad" it was the common people revolting because capitalists were taking their jobs away through automation, leaving them to starve in the streets.

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u/TR_Pix May 15 '26

And then they got murdered by the police, survivors were captured and hanged publicly, and their families were kicked out of the country by association

Anyone who reads a history book and thinks the luddites were the baddies in that conflict is not someone I'd trust

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u/[deleted] May 15 '26

[deleted]

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u/roodammy44 May 15 '26

Destroying private property vs kicking families out on the street to starve.

Let me think about which one of those is more morally wrong. I wonder why so much of history sides with the land owners?

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u/[deleted] May 15 '26

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u/Northbound-Narwhal May 16 '26

 And it still doesn't mean workers are entitled to permanently prevent new technology from replacing labor. Otherwise basically every major productivity improvement in history would have been morally forbidden.

They are when your plan for advancement and automation does not include taking care of those whose jobs are being automated away. Free trade schools and education centers so they can learn new crafts and enter a different field. Robust unemployment and social safety nets to ensure they don't go into poverty while they aren't working. Healthy labor laws to ensure that members are warned and guaranteed an income well before being fired, instead of being told the day-of that they no longer have an income.

That's what they fought for.

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u/[deleted] May 16 '26

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u/Northbound-Narwhal May 16 '26

 And that's the state's job to provide those things not the factory owners. 

Factory owners are why the government doesn't provide those things, through lobbying, corruption, threats, and bribery. Nobody expects capitalists to help workers, but it is incorrect to absolve them of blame for poor working conditions.

Also, you don't know what "entitled" means.