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( Neo-Luddism)
The term Luddite is a political/historical term relating to a political movement during the Industrial Revolution; it is primarily used to describe those perceived as being uncompromisingly or unnecessarily opposed to technological or scientific innovations. Unlike anarcho-primitivists, someone labelled a neo-Luddite might not consider technology itself to be evil, though they may believe that many technologies influence human nature in a way that degrades the overall quality of human existence. However, most commonly neo-Luddites oppose the rapid adoption of technology by society on the grounds that such development's negative effects on individuals, society or the planet outweigh its benefits. Neo-Luddite thinkers usually reject the popular claim that technology is essentially "value free" or "amoral", that it is merely a set of tools which can be used for either good or evil. Instead, they argue that certain technologies have an inherent tendency to reinforce or undermine particular values. In particular, they argue that some technologies foster social/class alienation, environmental degradation, and spiritual dissipation, though they are always marketed as uniformly positive by the companies that make them. Neo-Luddites claim that technology is a force that may do any or all of the following dehumanise and alienate people; destroy traditional cultures, societies, and family structure; pollute languages; reduce the need for person-to-person contact; alter the very definition of what it means to be human; or damage the evolved life-support systems of the Earth's entire biosphere so gravely as to cause human extinction. People described as "neo-Luddite" come from a variety of political backgrounds, anarchist and conservative, and the arguments used to obtain anti-technology conclusions similarly run across the political spectrum.
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