Is it time for a Luddite Renaissance?

September 8, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The word "Luddite" gets thrown around as an insult for anyone who can’t keep up with technology—a technophobe, a reactionary, someone stuck in the past. But listener Drew Barrett, a self-described modern Luddite from Colorado, had a different hunch. He wrote to Throughline suspecting the original Luddites were something else entirely: not anti-progress, but a labor movement of skilled workers fighting for their livelihoods. History professor Katrina Navickas, author of Contested Commons, takes up the challenge. Her wager is that the real story of the Luddites is far more sympathetic—and more relevant to our own anxieties about AI—than the caricature suggests.

The Industrial Revolution’s First Victims

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What you'll learn

1 Is it time for a Luddite Renaissance?
2 Throughline — Investigative Explainer
3 (00:36) **The Existential AI Fear** - The episode opens with raw voices expressing anxiety about AI's rapid takeover of human relationships and communication, framing it as a nightmare.
4 (02:00) **Introducing Drew Barrett, a Modern Luddite** - Drew explains he's from near Manchester, England, and grew up with Luddite history, but now sees the term as unfairly disparaging.
5 (04:27) **Historian Katrina Navickas Weighs In** - Katrina, a history professor at the University of Hertfordshire, makes a wager: she will convince listeners that "Luddite" is actually a good word.
6 (05:30) **Travel Back to Early 1800s England** - The scene is set: war with Napoleon, widespread poverty, food scarcity, and strange new machines appearing everywhere.
7 (07:00) **The First Luddite Attack** - On March 11, 1811, in the village of Arnold, framework knitters gather outside the local cloth exchange and begin attacking new machinery.

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Show Notes

Calling someone a "Luddite" is usually an insult – shorthand for someone who is behind the times. But the real Luddites weren't just afraid of change; they were a labor movement fighting to save their jobs from being replaced by machines. Today, with the rise of AI, many feel the same kind of existential threat and some are even pushing for a Luddite Renaissance. In this episode, Throughline takes on a listener's question to explore what the 19th-century Luddite rebellion can teach us about technology and human agency.

Guests:

Katrina Navickas, history professor at the University of Hertfordshire and author of the book Protest and the politics of space and place, 1789–1848

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