Why Brian Merchant, a Tech Columnist, Says He’s a Luddite

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KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brian Merchant is the technology columnist for the L.A. Times. He’s also a self-professed Luddite. In his new book “Blood in the Machine” Merchant explains that Luddites, most known for destroying machinery in the 19th century, didn’t hate technology. Rather, they railed against the Big Tech elites of the day whose automated machines threatened to erase livelihoods and the government that was deaf to the workers’ concerns. Merchant says there are lessons to be learned from the Luddites, who asked to be part of the technological revolution, instead of being replaced by it. We talk to him about his book. Guests: Brian Merchant, author, "Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion against Big Tech"; technology columnist, the Los Angeles Times. He is also the author of "The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:49.3	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal. You have undoubtedly heard someone derided as a, quote, Luddite, that is to say, a
0:54.5	hater of technology, a backwards person who refuses the latest new things. But
0:59.7	LA Times columnist Bryant Merchant asked, what if we have the story of the Luddites all
1:04.4	wrong? They were a real set of people in history, early 19th century England, a
1:08.7	time when industrialization was taking hold, and people
1:11.7	were asking questions that are uncomfortably familiar.
1:14.5	Will I still have a job in 10 years?
1:16.2	Can my family survive a miseration by new machines?
1:19.3	Who benefits from the technologies that disrupt a society?
	...

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