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Stop Feeling Helpless About AI: The Violent History of Resisting Technology

May 8, 2026

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5 min read

The Violent History of Resisting Technology

In early 1980s France, a group of anarchists called CLODO—the Committee for the Liquidation or Subversion of Computers—began bombing computer companies. They sent out press releases full of jokes that were hard to parse, but their message was serious: computers were being used by the state, the military, and the police to guide ballistics and control populations. They were a decade ahead of the utopian narratives about computing, and their concerns turned out to be prescient. Thomas de Kaiser, an academic in the UK, stumbled across this group by accident while doing archival research. That encounter became the seed of his book Techno Negative: A Long History of Refusing the Machine, which traces resistance to technology from ancient Greece through the present day.

Resistance Is Older Than You Think

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:00) **Episode Introduction & Host Welcome** - Taylor Lorenz introduces the topic of technological resistance and her guest, Thomas de Kaiser, author of *Techno-Negative*.
  • 2 (02:31) **The Spark: The CLAUD Group** - Thomas explains the anarchist group that inspired his book, the Committee for the Liquidation or Subversion of Computers.
  • 3 (05:25) **Deep History: Archimedes & Medieval Monks** - The earliest forms of technology resistance, starting with the inventor Archimedes and moving to religious orders.
  • 4 (10:00) **The Luddites: Labor & Collective Action** - Thomas discusses the Luddites as the most famous example of tech resistance, focusing on the automation of labor.
  • 5 (17:08) **Is Technological Progress Actually Good?** - The host challenges the idea that past resisters were wrong, given that many resisted inventions (like looms) that ultimately benefited humanity.
  • 6 (20:01) **The "Honesty" Trap of AI CEOs** - Taylor and Thomas discuss the strategic narrative of tech leaders who claim to be transparent about the downsides of AI.
  • 7 (24:08) **Defining "Techno-Negative": Not a Luddite Label** - Thomas clarifies his book is not a how-to guide for hating all technology, but a historical tracing of resistance.

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Show Notes

What if everything you've been told about technological progress is a lie?

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AI is changing society faster than ever, but resistance to technology is not new. For this week's Free Speech Friday I spoke with academic Thomas Dekeyser, author of Techno Negative, about the history of anti-technology movements, from the Luddites smashing machines in the Industrial Revolution to anarchist groups bombing computer companies in the 1980s.

We discuss AI, labor automation, surveillance, moral panic, Silicon Valley ideology, tech CEOs, machine breaking, environmental destruction, and why backlash against technology keeps returning throughout history. We also explore whether technological progress actually benefits ordinary people, or mainly serves corporations and power. Sometimes it's not what you think!

Topics include:

  • Why anti-AI movements are growing

  • Big Tech and labor exploitation

  • AI moral panic and conspiracy theories

  • Environmental costs of AI

  • Surveillance and control

  • The politics of technological progress

  • Why people resist new technology

  • Silicon Valley and deregulation

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