Ludd Was Right: Difference between revisions
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This trope manifests itself as follows:
# If a community that traditionally has [[Item Crafting|made everything painstakingly by hand]] switches to [[Killer Robot|robots]], [[Magitek|magic]], [[New Technology Is Evil|machines]], etc. to make goods, expect trouble. In all likelihood, either the goods produced [[Our Product Sucks|will turn out to be unusable]], or the robots, machines, etc. [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|will become dangerous]], and the characters will be forced to return to the old ways with [[An Aesop]] about the value of tender loving care. Ironically, an actual economic problem will result from the hordes of people who have no jobs and will no longer have the power to purchase the goods produced. It is called a consumption crash. It is also never brought up in these scenarios.
# If a society used to having everything done with magic, technology, etc. is [[Decade Dissonance|compared]] to [[Noble Savage|another]] [[Arcadia|society]] which [[Medieval Stasis|does everything]] [[Good Old Ways|the old-fashioned way]], the [[Society Is to Blame|more advanced society]] will be portrayed as a [[Dystopia]] of [[Aesoptinum|some kind]].
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=== [[Literature]] ===
* Characters in S.M. Stirling's ''[[Emberverse]]'' series of books seem perfectly happy being thrown back into pre-industrial state. A mysterious force disables all electricity, gunpowder, and steam power. This reults in most of humanity dying from starvation and the survivors reverting to agrarian communities. Although a few can be heard pining for modern conveniences (most commonly deoderant and birth control), more often than not you'll hear them say how much happier they are and that this was the way humans were meant to live. Of course, it must be pointed out that those who survived tended to be Renn Faire patrons, ranchers, history professors, survivalists, and the [[Society for Creative Anachronism]].
=== [[Music]] ===
* The whole point of [[Billy Joel]]'s "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" where the unnamed protagonist is criticized for being old fashioned. Joel intended it as a [[Take That, Critics!|a response to critics]] who claimed his style was dated while promoting newer genres that he saw as little but rehashes of older styles.
=== [[Video Games]] ===
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* Hilarious lampooned in ''[[Helluva Boss]]'', where it's clear that the reason [[The Men in Black| the D.H.O.R.K.S.]] aren't doing so well against [[Villain Protagonist| the I.M.P.s]] is due to their reliance on archaic weapons:
{{quote|'''Agent One:''' Good god why are we only using weapons from Japan's Edo Period!
'''Agent Two:''' Hey, [[Awesome But Impractical
:* Although, to be completely fair, the D.H.O.R.K.S. did a pretty decent job and would clearly have won the fight had Stolas not appeared to give the I.M.P.s backup.
=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* On ''[[King of the Hill]]'', Hank ''is'' this Trope. He's uncomfortable around technology and tries hard to stick to traditional values. Often this makes him [[Only Sane Man| the voice of reason]] when some new idea or concept has made everyone else has go nuts, but not always.
* This is played for laughs in the old ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short "Pied Piper Porky". Having rid Hamelin of ''most'' of the rats, the Pied Piper (played by Porky, obviously) is trolled by a wise-guy rat who refuses to leave, and when Porky attempts to use his pipe on him, the rat resists the charm and breaks the pipe. Porky then produces a box labeled "Old Fashioned Rat Trap" which contains a cat.
== Technology replaces labor ==
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*** That does show up. A poor old woman who runs a one-woman laundry service to make ends meet asks the inventor, "And what 'appens to me and my little bit o' washing' when there's no washing' to be done?"
* In the 1977 Ralph Bakshi movie ''[[Wizards]]'' the good wizard Avatar uses magic, while the evil wizard Blackwolf uses technology. Somewhat averted at the end when {{spoiler|Avatar pulls out a gun and shoots Blackwolf}}
* ''[[Super Mario Bros. (film)|Super Mario Bros]]''; the two protagonists are not big fans of bottled water, calling it a scam - seeing as both are plumbers, it makes sense, but this point of view is not exactly uncommon.
=== [[Literature]] ===
* [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'': Saruman started out as a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] who thought his rule would be good for the world and used both magic and technology as means of gaining power. He later industrialized the Shire ([[The Man Behind the Man|through his puppet Lotho]]) as a petty jab at the hobbits.
** To be fair, while Tolkein made no secret of his opinion, Saruman wasn't trying to industrialize the Shire. He was trying to destroy it. Lotho began the industrialization process before Saruman showed up on the scene, and while its effects weren't beneficial, they weren't terrible either; it was when Saruman arrived and took over that he switched from "build more and better machines" to "knock down buildings, cut down trees, pour filth on everything just for the hell of it." As one of the hobbits who lived through it remarked, Lotho's machines didn't really improve matters, but "since Sharkey arrived it's been plain ruination."
*** [[Word of God]] though is that the perils of industrialisation and the destruction of beauty is the one theme Mr Tolkien will admit to.
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{{quote|'''Kirk''': "There are certain things men must do to remain men. Your computer would take that away.''
'''McCoy,''' ''later:'' "We're all sorry for the other guy when he loses his job to a machine. When it comes to your job, that's different. And it always will be different." }}
* There were other encounters with Luddites on ''[[Star Trek]]'':
** Kirk's attorney, [[Meaningful Name|Samuel T. Cogley]], in [[Star Trek/Recap/S1/E20 Court Martial|"Court Martial"]].
** The farmer/researchers in "This Side of Paradise"—although their contentment with being isolated and living with minimal technology seems to stem as much from the spores as from anything else.
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Kids in The Hall]]'', in which a group of laborers who work all day at holding their arms in a sink full of fish guts are replaced by a machine full of mannequin hands which can do the same job. When the manager insists this is the way of technology, the laborers point out that the manager can be replaced by a machine too. {{spoiler|Then he starts stuttering and falling apart [[Tomato Surprise|because he's a robot.]]}}
* As noted elsewhere on this page, the finale for [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|the reimagined ''Battlestar Galactica'']] finale veers in this direction.
* In an episode of ''[[Small Wonder]]'', Ted's father visited; having once lost his job to industrial robot designed for it, his reaction to [[Robot Kid|Vicki]] was, to say the least, bad. (Vicki was visibly upset by his reaction, [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|leading the whole cast to wonder if she was actually starting to develop emotion]].) He changed his opinion - of her, at least - after having a heart attack, leading Vicki saving his life by "jump starting" his heart by channeling electricity through her hands.
=== [[Video Games]] ===
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=== [[Literature]] ===
* In the ''[[Codex Alera]]'', the Alerans have become so dependent on magic that they have abandoned most technology as inferior. Alera is on the brink of destruction when Bernard (at his nephew's request) rebuilds an ancient device that, combined with Aleran magic, becomes the most potent weapon in existence. The device? A catapult.
* This is invoked by [[Mad Scientist|economist]] Hubert Turvy in ''[[
{{quote|"Think of what they could do for the city!" said Mr. Cowslick of the Artificer's Guild.
"Well, yes. To begin with, they would put one hundred and twenty thousand men out of work," said Hubert, "but that would be only the start. They do not require food, clothing, or shelter.... The demand for many things would drop and further unemployment would result...." }}
** Although, unlike most examples on this page, he actually has a point: Introducing this much free labor into the labor pool actually ''would'' crash the economy. It'd be like the Industrialization in Europe during the late 19th century, only in fast forward. Pratchett, being a Brit himself, was probably quite aware of this.
* Another example being ''[[
== Technically advanced society as [[Dystopia]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Anti-Intellectualism]]
[[Category:Romanticism Versus Enlightenment]]
[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]
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