R: Be A Luddite

For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique; and both, in the practice of this technique, are ready to do things hitherto regarded as disgusting and impious—such as digging up and mutilating the dead...No doubt those who really founded modern science were usually those whose love of truth exceeded their love of power; in every mixed movement the efficacy comes from the good elements not from the bad. But the presence of the bad elements is not irrelevant to the direction the efficacy takes. It might be going too far to say that the modern scientific movement was tainted from its birth: but I think it would be true to say that it was born in an unhealthy neighbourhood and at an inauspicious hour. Its triumphs may have-been too rapid and purchased at too high a price: reconsideration, and something like repentance, may be required.

-C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

Active in the early 1810s, Luddites were a secret organization of handloom weavers who protested the mechanization of textile weaving in the UK by breaking into factories and smashing industrial machinery. They viewed the spread of cost-effective, automated industrial looms during the Napoleonic Wars as a threat to their livelihood as skilled weavers. Although the British Army stifled the movement, the term "Luddite" continues to describe those who resist the adoption of new technologies.

It is almost a truism to say that technologies are useful; after all, adoption is what differentiates a technology from a mere invention. The laptop on which I am composing this letter is capable of many wondrous things, such as accessing troves of information on the Internet or rendering impressive video game graphics. But increasingly, it seems as though we serve our technologies more than they serve us. Addictive social media apps are black holes devouring time that could be spent on work or real interpersonal interaction. Meanwhile, weapons of mass destruction constantly threaten the world with annihilation. Do the technologies that we have adopted truly make us better off?