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Comment by Kiro | Hacker News Reader

I think we should be careful attributing too much idealism to it. The Luddites were not a unified movement and people had much more urgent concerns than thinking about technological progress from a sociocentric perspective. Considering the time period with the Napoleonic Wars as backdrop I don't think anyone can blame them for simply being angry and wanting to smash the machines that made them lose their job.

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And an important note: history is written by the victors. Additionally, just like how today some people have a caricatured understanding of the “other” side (whatever that might be), understanding what Luddites thoughts and motivations were through the lens of their victor opponents will inevitably create a biased, harsh picture of them.

>wanting to smash the machines that made them lose their job.

Wondering how long before people start setting datacenters on fire.

I find it hard to locate my sympathy button for people who smash and burn things built up by other people.

Datacenters aren't built by people, they're built by corporations.

Corporations which are entirely made up of people. Not to mention the people that physically built and maintain the data center.

Or did the actual legal fiction of a corporation do it? Maybe the articles of incorporation documents got up and did the work themselves?

It means that no one cares about the creations except in terms of money. If an Oracle building burns down and no one is hurt, I wouldn't shed a single tear. If an artistic graffiti mural adorned its wall, I would be more upset.

I get what you mean, but my point is even that Oracle building was designed, built, and maintained by the work of real people. Many of which I assume take pride in their work and may in fact care if it’s burned down.

But why should they? An Oracle data centre is built for one purpose, and one purpose only - to increase the wealth and power of Larry Ellison. Is furthering that goal really something to be proud of?

As a wiser man than me once said, do not anthropomorphise the lawnmower.

The act of destruction is not inherently evil, it is a matter of what it targets. You can burn down the Library of Alexandria or you can bust open a concentration camp. (These are just some extreme examples, some datacenter isn’t morally equal to either).

And how well those attempts fare. Data centers aren't exactly fortified, but they have a lot of focus on access control and redundancy, and usually have good fire suppression (except OVH apparently).

Maybe ChatGPT has some ideas on how to best attack data centers /s

Yesterday AWS had a Little oppsie that brought down half of western businesses. I don't have confidence in that redundancy.

Hey maybe the problem isn’t the means of production (the data centers), but the mode of production.. capitalism.

Exactly, the luddites werent especially anti technology. Smashing stocking frames for them was a tactic to drive up their wages.

Just as the fallout of the napoleonic war was used as a means of driving down their wages. The only difference is that tactic didnt get employers executed.

It's always been in the interests of capital to nudge the pitchforks away from their hides in the direction of the machines, and to always try and recharacterize anti capitalist movements as anti technology.

In 2010 I remember a particularly stupid example where Forbes declared anti Uber protestors were "anti smartphone".

Sadly most people dont seem to be smart enough to not fall for this.

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