In Episode 319 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg resumes his rant against the hegemony of digital and cellular technology—and takes heart from the local New York chapter of the Luddite Club—smart, free-thinking youth who are eschewing cellphones and social media in favor of "real life." Despite the cynical predictions of some, the chapter is true to its values and refreshingly doesn't even have a website—although a documentary film about them is in the works. In other glimmers of hope, the New York City nurses' strike that just ended in victory had as one of the key demands safeguards against workers being replaced by artificial intelligence. And the recent AI Impact Summit in Delhi was disrupted by a protest action.

These signs of human resistance inevitably face contradictions, however. Some members of the Luddite Club spoke favorably of the new youth social media ban in Australia, which is opposed by civil-liberties groups—pointing to a long-term intractable dilemma.

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Books discussed:

Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution — Lessons for the Computer Age by Kirkpatrick Sale, Addison-Wesley 1995

Front Lines: A Lifetime of Drawing Resistance by Susan Simensky Bietila, PM Press 2026

Production by Chris Rywalt

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