Ask YC: What arguments would you give to convince a technophobe?

Depends on what they value. Old people love new technology when it solves their problems. Health is a big motivator. If you invent a gadget that cures arthritis, I guarantee you millions of "technophobes" will be among its early adopters.

My chain-smoking grandmother considers herself a luddite, but in a sense she's bleeding edge. If I had a nanobot pill from 30 years in the future and with it I could return her lungs, arteries, skin etc. to the condition they were in when she was 25 - I know from talking to her that should would be ecstatic with techno lust.

To win over a luddite, ask yourself what they most desire that they can't currently get. Sometimes the technology is already available. If so, demonstrate it solving some vexing problem they have, or think they have.

depends too much on the technology you're trying to push. trying to convince someone to adopt something simply for the sake of it being new or technology is inherently fallacious and will fail.

"X makes your life easier".

Examples: Washing machine, stove, dish washer, hot water heater. More recently: cell phone and computer

If it doesn't fit that test for them, then it's probably not worth trying to convince them.

The same way you convince anyone else to do something you want. Read "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" by Robert Cialdini.

"It will make your life better."

If that's not true, then there's no reason for them to adopt the new technology.