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AI In Our Future Part 4: Resurrected Luddites Needed Now
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already part of our lives and, in the near future, will have a profound effect on almost every aspect of modern life. It will probably surprise you that in this article, I am time-travelling back 215 years to draw out some key principles we need to embrace now in 2026.
The Luddites of 1811-1816
The First Industrial Revolution started around 1760 and ended around 1840. This era was defined by the transition from hand production to machines, the rise of the steam engine, and the growth of the textile industry. Textile workers in the English Midlands were among the most badly impacted by mechanisation. They organised themselves into a sophisticated resistance movement. They were not unskilled labourers but trained and experienced framework knitters, wool croppers, and weavers. They occupied a respected social tier, had guild traditions, and earned reasonable salaries, much like today's white-collar workers, a class that faces the greatest challenges from today's AI.
Luddites have been wrongly described as anti-progress, technology-averse insurrectionists. They were not. They were focused not on change, progress, or industrialisation, but on the specific deployment of machinery designed not primarily to increase production but to destroy wage structures and replace skilled workers. Sound familiar? Similarly, today’s AI tools can be deployed either to uphold or undermine human dignity and livelihoods.
Their operational method was to break the machines used to impoverish them and send threatening letters to mill owners demanding compliance with fair wage agreements. Their violence was directed at property, not people, but tragically, some deaths resulted from their actions. The government's reaction was violent and disproportionate. They deployed troops into the affected regions and passed a law making ‘machine-breaking’ punishable by death.
What They Stood For
While there are some similarities between the Luddites of 1811 and the white-collar workers of 2026, what they stood for is very relevant for us today:
The destruction of human skill and dignity without consent or compensation.
The breaking of the social contract between labour and management.
The concentration of economic power in the hands of business owners who bore none of the social cost of disruption.
State complicity through the deliberate removal of protective legislation.
The instrumentalisation of human beings.
Now, anyone familiar with the exponentially rapid development and deployment of AI will immediately recognise the stark similarities. However, two things are not at all similar:
The first is that industrialisation developed and was deployed over roughly 150 years, whereas AI will be fully integrated into our lives, for better or for worse, within the next 150 weeks!
Secondly, because people had time to adapt and reskill over a long period of time, the process was hugely beneficial to most segments of society. Industrialisation changed the nature of work and created more jobs than before. AI is almost certainly going to replace jobs at scale (lots and lots of jobs lost). Some ‘experts’ say that we will all be able to reskill ourselves to take on more advanced jobs, but AI will be able to do most jobs at all levels, and with the highest proficiency long before we can reskill.
The heart of the problem is the super-speed with which AI is advancing on us, and our human inability to change that fast.
As the character in the movie Apollo 13 said, “Houston, we have a problem!” Yes, indeed, we do have a problem!
What The Luddites Can Teach Us
All the ground covered so far is to bring us to the critical questions: What can the Luddites teach us, and what should we be doing in response to this?
Lesson One: Name the real questions accurately
The Luddites were an organised and determined people who asked the right question: ‘Who governs the terms of technological deployment?’ AI raises many important questions that we need to answer. Three of them are:
Is it dangerous? Well, yes, it could be, but it could also be a benefit … eventually.
How long will it be before it radically affects our lives? We do need an answer to this, but experts are divided, some saying very soon and others saying up to ten years. However, each of us needs to prepare ourselves, our families, and our income sources, and so our own answer to this question is important.
A third question is the one we can borrow from the Luddites – who decides how it is deployed and over what period? As things stand at the moment, it is the AI company executives and the government officials who decide this. However, we all need to have something to say about this because we are the ones who will pay the price if AI brings anything other than utopia.
Lesson Two: The dispossession of human agency is a theological problem
Christian theological tradition insists that we are all made in the image of God and bearers of rationality, creativity, moral agency, and relational dignity (Genesis 1:26). Work, properly understood, is a participation in God’s ongoing ordering of creation. Beyond providing for us physically, it gives us dignity, purpose, and a sense of identity as responsible sons and daughters of the Almighty. If AI strips meaningful work from human beings, it is not just an economic problem; it is an assault on human dignity.
Lesson Three: Productivity gains do not automatically distribute themselves evenly
The Industrial Revolution ultimately raised living standards, but only after a century of struggle and hardships for many people. A major reason for this is that at first, the benefits all accrued to the business owners and governments. In the Luddites case, it was the mill owners and the British Crown. Currently, AI wealth is almost all going to a remarkably small group of AI executives, shareholders, and the governments that rake in the taxes payable by these elites. The amount of wealth accruing to these few is staggering! We cannot assume that this situation will self-correct, so we should be taking steps to earn income and accrue our own wealth by using AI for as long and as best we can. For instance, an administrator or office manager who uses AI proficiently will be more in demand than less AI-literate people.
Lesson Four: Speed of deployment is a moral issue
The Luddites understood that the pace at which technological change is imposed is a moral and not just a mathematical problem.
People and communities need time to adapt, retrain, redeploy, and reorganise.
AI is coming at us at an exponential rate. There are options available - such as limiting its capabilities or slowing its rate of deployment - but we, ordinary people, have almost no say in this.
A very small number of very knowledgeable AI insiders are warning the world right now and proposing alternatives to the AI industry and governments. Men like Dario Amodei (The CEO of Anthropic), Tristan Harris (ex Google), Roman Yampolskiy (AN influential AI safety researcher) and to a lesser extent Kai-Fu Lee (ex Google China). They can all be found on YouTube and have also written extensively over the last few years. We need to listen to them. All of us need to pay heed and speak supportively for AI safety and common-sense control where we can.
So, what do we do about all this? Three things:
Find out as much as you can about AI and become fully informed about the risks and the timelines.
Speak about it within your circle of influence so that others become aware.
Learn to use AI to do your job better and to earn income and influence.
For my part, my son and I, using AI have written a book aimed at Church Pastors and Leaders, setting out what we have discovered, along with some suggestions on how this information can be used. It is called The Acts 8 Moment, and you can get a copy from https://shorturl.at/5pZmr
Conclusion
By now, you will realise why I titled this article ‘Resurrected Luddites Needed Now’. The Luddites provide us with historic principles, but we do not attempt to reproduce their approaches in our age. Just as the resurrected body will be recognisable but different from the body of flesh, so we should rise up in 2026 as recognisable but different Luddites – clear-eyed about technology, but committed to human dignity, justice, and Jesus-centred hope.
In my next article, I want to introduce you to the three forces driving AI development and deployment, now and during the next few years.
Please note, if you are reading this via email and it doesn’t look right or there are audio problems, please go to www.truthistheword.com to view the post online or go to the AudioVisual page (https://truthistheword.com/audio-visual/) where you can access any of the series posts and audio files from one place. The audio should be below:
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By Truth Is The WordArtificial Intelligence (AI) is already part of our lives and, in the near future, will have a profound effect on almost every aspect of modern life. It will probably surprise you that in this article, I am time-travelling back 215 years to draw out some key principles we need to embrace now in 2026.
The Luddites of 1811-1816
The First Industrial Revolution started around 1760 and ended around 1840. This era was defined by the transition from hand production to machines, the rise of the steam engine, and the growth of the textile industry. Textile workers in the English Midlands were among the most badly impacted by mechanisation. They organised themselves into a sophisticated resistance movement. They were not unskilled labourers but trained and experienced framework knitters, wool croppers, and weavers. They occupied a respected social tier, had guild traditions, and earned reasonable salaries, much like today's white-collar workers, a class that faces the greatest challenges from today's AI.
Luddites have been wrongly described as anti-progress, technology-averse insurrectionists. They were not. They were focused not on change, progress, or industrialisation, but on the specific deployment of machinery designed not primarily to increase production but to destroy wage structures and replace skilled workers. Sound familiar? Similarly, today’s AI tools can be deployed either to uphold or undermine human dignity and livelihoods.
Their operational method was to break the machines used to impoverish them and send threatening letters to mill owners demanding compliance with fair wage agreements. Their violence was directed at property, not people, but tragically, some deaths resulted from their actions. The government's reaction was violent and disproportionate. They deployed troops into the affected regions and passed a law making ‘machine-breaking’ punishable by death.
What They Stood For
While there are some similarities between the Luddites of 1811 and the white-collar workers of 2026, what they stood for is very relevant for us today:
The destruction of human skill and dignity without consent or compensation.
The breaking of the social contract between labour and management.
The concentration of economic power in the hands of business owners who bore none of the social cost of disruption.
State complicity through the deliberate removal of protective legislation.
The instrumentalisation of human beings.
Now, anyone familiar with the exponentially rapid development and deployment of AI will immediately recognise the stark similarities. However, two things are not at all similar:
The first is that industrialisation developed and was deployed over roughly 150 years, whereas AI will be fully integrated into our lives, for better or for worse, within the next 150 weeks!
Secondly, because people had time to adapt and reskill over a long period of time, the process was hugely beneficial to most segments of society. Industrialisation changed the nature of work and created more jobs than before. AI is almost certainly going to replace jobs at scale (lots and lots of jobs lost). Some ‘experts’ say that we will all be able to reskill ourselves to take on more advanced jobs, but AI will be able to do most jobs at all levels, and with the highest proficiency long before we can reskill.
The heart of the problem is the super-speed with which AI is advancing on us, and our human inability to change that fast.
As the character in the movie Apollo 13 said, “Houston, we have a problem!” Yes, indeed, we do have a problem!
What The Luddites Can Teach Us
All the ground covered so far is to bring us to the critical questions: What can the Luddites teach us, and what should we be doing in response to this?
Lesson One: Name the real questions accurately
The Luddites were an organised and determined people who asked the right question: ‘Who governs the terms of technological deployment?’ AI raises many important questions that we need to answer. Three of them are:
Is it dangerous? Well, yes, it could be, but it could also be a benefit … eventually.
How long will it be before it radically affects our lives? We do need an answer to this, but experts are divided, some saying very soon and others saying up to ten years. However, each of us needs to prepare ourselves, our families, and our income sources, and so our own answer to this question is important.
A third question is the one we can borrow from the Luddites – who decides how it is deployed and over what period? As things stand at the moment, it is the AI company executives and the government officials who decide this. However, we all need to have something to say about this because we are the ones who will pay the price if AI brings anything other than utopia.
Lesson Two: The dispossession of human agency is a theological problem
Christian theological tradition insists that we are all made in the image of God and bearers of rationality, creativity, moral agency, and relational dignity (Genesis 1:26). Work, properly understood, is a participation in God’s ongoing ordering of creation. Beyond providing for us physically, it gives us dignity, purpose, and a sense of identity as responsible sons and daughters of the Almighty. If AI strips meaningful work from human beings, it is not just an economic problem; it is an assault on human dignity.
Lesson Three: Productivity gains do not automatically distribute themselves evenly
The Industrial Revolution ultimately raised living standards, but only after a century of struggle and hardships for many people. A major reason for this is that at first, the benefits all accrued to the business owners and governments. In the Luddites case, it was the mill owners and the British Crown. Currently, AI wealth is almost all going to a remarkably small group of AI executives, shareholders, and the governments that rake in the taxes payable by these elites. The amount of wealth accruing to these few is staggering! We cannot assume that this situation will self-correct, so we should be taking steps to earn income and accrue our own wealth by using AI for as long and as best we can. For instance, an administrator or office manager who uses AI proficiently will be more in demand than less AI-literate people.
Lesson Four: Speed of deployment is a moral issue
The Luddites understood that the pace at which technological change is imposed is a moral and not just a mathematical problem.
People and communities need time to adapt, retrain, redeploy, and reorganise.
AI is coming at us at an exponential rate. There are options available - such as limiting its capabilities or slowing its rate of deployment - but we, ordinary people, have almost no say in this.
A very small number of very knowledgeable AI insiders are warning the world right now and proposing alternatives to the AI industry and governments. Men like Dario Amodei (The CEO of Anthropic), Tristan Harris (ex Google), Roman Yampolskiy (AN influential AI safety researcher) and to a lesser extent Kai-Fu Lee (ex Google China). They can all be found on YouTube and have also written extensively over the last few years. We need to listen to them. All of us need to pay heed and speak supportively for AI safety and common-sense control where we can.
So, what do we do about all this? Three things:
Find out as much as you can about AI and become fully informed about the risks and the timelines.
Speak about it within your circle of influence so that others become aware.
Learn to use AI to do your job better and to earn income and influence.
For my part, my son and I, using AI have written a book aimed at Church Pastors and Leaders, setting out what we have discovered, along with some suggestions on how this information can be used. It is called The Acts 8 Moment, and you can get a copy from https://shorturl.at/5pZmr
Conclusion
By now, you will realise why I titled this article ‘Resurrected Luddites Needed Now’. The Luddites provide us with historic principles, but we do not attempt to reproduce their approaches in our age. Just as the resurrected body will be recognisable but different from the body of flesh, so we should rise up in 2026 as recognisable but different Luddites – clear-eyed about technology, but committed to human dignity, justice, and Jesus-centred hope.
In my next article, I want to introduce you to the three forces driving AI development and deployment, now and during the next few years.
Please note, if you are reading this via email and it doesn’t look right or there are audio problems, please go to www.truthistheword.com to view the post online or go to the AudioVisual page (https://truthistheword.com/audio-visual/) where you can access any of the series posts and audio files from one place. The audio should be below: