Tecnoluddismo - BookWyrm.World

No cover — Gavin Mueller: Tecnoluddismo (Paperback, 2022, Nero Editions)

Paperback, 170 pages

Published Jan. 25, 2022 by Nero Editions.

ISBN:: 978-88-8056-136-1

(2 reviews)

I luddisti, sin dalle rivolte del diciannovesimo secolo, sono stati raccontati come un movimento contrario alla tecnologia. La distruzione dei telai e dei macchinari di più recente introduzione, che mettevano a rischio il lavoro e la vita stessa dei rivoltosi, è stata a più riprese analizzata come una pratica volta a riportare lo sviluppo tecnologico a una fase precedente, ma Gavin Mueller in questo libro ci spiega come non sia effettivamente così. Tecnoluddismo racconta di come le tecnologie non siano mai neutrali, ma definiscono, attraverso il loro funzionamento, inedite modalità di produzione e di socialità – ogni macchinario ha un duplice fine, pratico e politico, e l'obiettivo del movimento luddista non è mai stato quello di farne a meno in maniera assoluta, ma di dirigere lo sviluppo delle tecnologie verso una società egalitaria e giusta. Di lì si dipana un filo rosso che dalle rivolte contro i telai arriva alla …

I luddisti, sin dalle rivolte del diciannovesimo secolo, sono stati raccontati come un movimento contrario alla tecnologia. La distruzione dei telai e dei macchinari di più recente introduzione, che mettevano a rischio il lavoro e la vita stessa dei rivoltosi, è stata a più riprese analizzata come una pratica volta a riportare lo sviluppo tecnologico a una fase precedente, ma Gavin Mueller in questo libro ci spiega come non sia effettivamente così. Tecnoluddismo racconta di come le tecnologie non siano mai neutrali, ma definiscono, attraverso il loro funzionamento, inedite modalità di produzione e di socialità – ogni macchinario ha un duplice fine, pratico e politico, e l'obiettivo del movimento luddista non è mai stato quello di farne a meno in maniera assoluta, ma di dirigere lo sviluppo delle tecnologie verso una società egalitaria e giusta. Di lì si dipana un filo rosso che dalle rivolte contro i telai arriva alla società contemporanea, immersa in un sistema infrastrutturale fatto di reti internet e modalità di produzione che è sempre più urgente ripensare. Dal dark web ai sistemi operativi considerati obsoleti, dall'autoassemblaggio ai linguaggi di codice autoprodotti, Tecnoluddismo imposta le basi per una nuova pratica hacker che sappia ricombinare le tecnologie esistenti, al fine di modellare una società finalmente libera dai sistemi di controllo contemporanei.

3 editions

nerd teacher [books] reviewed Breaking Things at Work by Gavin Mueller

Infuriating.

2 stars

First an foremost: You're better off reading many of the books that he uses as resources before you are this one because he super-oversimplifies everything in ways that remove context and information. (This includes Automating Inequality by Virginia Eubanks and Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil.)

Second, he intentionally erases a huge chunk of history in order to (attempt to) achieve his stated goal in the introduction, which is to convince people to be Marxists. He completely writes out any time anarchists even participate in something, and it's particularly egregious when talking about the IWW (an organisation that has been very much shaped by interactions with anarchists). He intentionally overlooks people (socialists and anarchists) who could make his point simply because they can't be vaguely referenced as 'communist' and co-opted into Marxist thought. It's really blatantly frustrating.

That said, there are some points where I was made curious. But …

First an foremost: You're better off reading many of the books that he uses as resources before you are this one because he super-oversimplifies everything in ways that remove context and information. (This includes Automating Inequality by Virginia Eubanks and Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil.)

Second, he intentionally erases a huge chunk of history in order to (attempt to) achieve his stated goal in the introduction, which is to convince people to be Marxists. He completely writes out any time anarchists even participate in something, and it's particularly egregious when talking about the IWW (an organisation that has been very much shaped by interactions with anarchists). He intentionally overlooks people (socialists and anarchists) who could make his point simply because they can't be vaguely referenced as 'communist' and co-opted into Marxist thought. It's really blatantly frustrating.

That said, there are some points where I was made curious. But that would've happened with any other book, to be honest.

luxon@bookwyrm.social reviewed Breaking Things at Work by Gavin Mueller

Interesting for anti-automation practices

4 stars

I found the historic part of this book (first two chapters) interesting, but not particularly helpful politically; I guess it's nice to rehabilitate the Luddites (and the anarchic style of organizing is interesting), but I'm not sure there's so much to learn from. The last two chapters I found more engaging. Particularly striking was the author's finding that people (workers, consumers) already engage in anti-automation, Luddite practices (like stealing from a self-checkout, or messing with food delivery robots in a fast food restaurant) and that it's good Marxist practice to build on that. Or this finding: "A large majority (85%) said they would support restricting workforce automation to jobs that are dangerous or unhealthy for humans to do." [^Pew] So as an overview of what automation currently does and how the Left can relate to it, the book was good; as a source of ancient wisdom from the Luddites, not …

I found the historic part of this book (first two chapters) interesting, but not particularly helpful politically; I guess it's nice to rehabilitate the Luddites (and the anarchic style of organizing is interesting), but I'm not sure there's so much to learn from. The last two chapters I found more engaging. Particularly striking was the author's finding that people (workers, consumers) already engage in anti-automation, Luddite practices (like stealing from a self-checkout, or messing with food delivery robots in a fast food restaurant) and that it's good Marxist practice to build on that. Or this finding: "A large majority (85%) said they would support restricting workforce automation to jobs that are dangerous or unhealthy for humans to do." [^Pew] So as an overview of what automation currently does and how the Left can relate to it, the book was good; as a source of ancient wisdom from the Luddites, not so much.

[^Pew] www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/04/08/how-americans-see-automation-and-the-workplace-in-7-charts/

Subjects

Lavoro
Tecnologia