Apodaca: Luddites were trying to protect their future, as we must protect ours

Humans have always had an uneasy relationship with technology. Many times throughout history technological change has been met with suspicion, even outright hostility, as it was in early 19th-century England.

That’s when textile workers rebelled against mill owners who were replacing skilled craftsmen with machines. Over the course of a few years, gangs broke into mills and smashed the machines.

The uprising had a whimsical aspect, as the rebellious workers adopted the mythical, Robin Hood-like character, General Ned Ludd, as their supposed leader. But the Luddites, as they became known, were deadly serious. England’s war with Napoleonic France had crippled the economy, and people struggled to afford basic commodities. Now they feared the loss of their livelihoods would bring their families to the brink of starvation.

The conflict grew increasingly violent, and a harsh crackdown led to many deaths before the movement itself died out.

Today, the term “Luddite” is a mocking label for a person who doesn’t understand or appreciate technology. But many modern historians contend that the story of the original Luddites is somewhat misleading.

The workers rose up not because they objected to technology, per se. They wanted work and decent wages, and feared being left behind by changes they had no power to control. The mill owners, meanwhile, also feared being left behind — if they didn’t use the machines, they argued, their business rivals surely would, and they would no longer be competitive.

The owners won. The machines won. They usually do.

Does any of this feel unsettlingly familiar?

Today we live with a constant, gnawing dread that technology has run amok, and we, the general public, feel powerless to stop it, or even hit pause until we can get a better grip on how to employ it responsibly. We’re not Luddites. We just know that technology can have a dark side. Yet businesses, in pursuit of profits and a competitive edge, charge ahead before the full impact is understood.

As the pace of change accelerates, we see more and more examples of this recklessness. We keep letting tigers out of their cages, then panic as havoc ensues.

We put smart phones and tablets in the hands of children and lament when they won’t look up from their screens. Social media seemed like a great idea, until we realized that our personal data was being mined and sold, algorithms were being designed to manipulate us, and kids were suffering immense harm, including addiction and online bullying.

Now here comes the biggest technological tiger we’ve ever seen. AI is changing the world at a breakneck pace, with industries ranging from customer service to manufacturing to healthcare undergoing profound transformations.

Big Tech touts the positive aspects of these changes — increased efficiency and productivity, tailored solutions and learning experiences, improved analytics and decision-making, and on and on. AI, we are told, could cure cancer. And if U.S. companies don’t go all in, they say, others (read: China) will win the AI race.

Okay. Maybe the hype over AI’s promise and the warnings of the need to establish competitive supremacy are all legit. But the rest of us want to know: At what cost?

The answers so far have hardly been reassuring. Like the Luddites, many workers are being AI’d right out of their jobs. In a hair-raising bit of news that resembles many a sci-fi plot, we learned that OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta have all seen their autonomous “agents” go rogue.

The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross recently warned of the escalating risks of autonomous weapons systems, otherwise known as “killer robots.” That certainly didn’t calm fears that AI will one day turn against us.

Yet in communities across the country, humongous, energy-sucking, water-guzzling AI data centers are being erected, often with a nerve-rattling lack of oversight.

Even some tech giants admit they’re worried.

“Even under the best circumstances, the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history,” Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently wrote.

“Unfortunately, right now we are not preparing for it.”

Maybe it’s time to reclaim the Luddite cause — minus the violence, of course. Yes, the original Luddite uprising failed, but over time workers organized, learned effective ways to exert their collective power and won important battles over wages, job protections and safety standards.

Today, many people are fighting back too.

Earlier this month, state lawmakers passed new safeguards for social media, AI and data centers. The legislation follows last month’s landmark $17-billion legal settlement in which Meta agreed to add stronger child-safety measures to its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

In communities far and wide, residents are mobilizing to block those huge data centers. State and local officials are getting on board, demanding more answers and accountability before green lighting the facilities. Politicians from the left and right are increasingly calling for greater regulation of AI.

Just this month federal legislation was introduced that would ban AI “superintelligence,” defined as “systems that surpass human intelligence or have the capacity to overthrow human governments, or systems that have dangerous abilities like subverting shutdown commands.” It seems insane that such a law is needed, but this is where we are.

So call people Luddites, technophobes, whatever. Demanding guardrails and braking mechanisms on a powerful, fast-developing technology isn’t backward. It’s common sense, and it’s necessary.