Fear of Technology

Introduction

Fear of technology is at first glance truly bizarre and hard to understand. All of the progress of civilization comes from embracing newer and better ideas as they come along. But the fear is real, and it happens because embracing new technologies always leads to short-term social disruption. Someone who was a winner is now a loser, and that person is part of a group of people who has a lot of clout in the community.

The iconic example of this is the Luddites. These were master weavers in England in the early 1800's who were losing their jobs to the newest technology of the day - mechanical looms operated by unskilled workers. From 1811 to 1817, the outraged master weavers were breaking up mechanical looms and the factories that held them. And they became famous for it. (King Lud was their secret society’s fictional leader.) They were not alone in their time, and the kind of problem they faced has continued to plague mankind from their day right up to the present.

For some, the fear of social disruptions and community hardships brought on by technology is justified. What is not justified is using the fear to hinder the growth and material progress that innovation brings to all members of a civilized community.

Classic Fears

Here are some classic ways technophobia is expressed. When you hear several of these claims used together, look for the new technology that is causing both great improvement and great disruption.

We are losing jobs. And the jobs being lost are skilled and high paying. The problem with this claim is it does not include the fact that those lost jobs have also contributed to products’ expensive price tags. In truth, the jobs are discontinued as a way of making products or services faster, better, and cheaper.
The jobs are leaving. This is a variant on the losing jobs claim and a common complaint. But what’s really going on? The faster, better, and cheaper is happening somewhere else because those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo are successful in keeping the new technologies out of their community. The Luddites smashing the new style looms is an example of this. They succeeded in shutting down the new weaving factories where they lived, so the owners moved to more favorable locations. In those new locations they hired unskilled workers and did just fine. (The workers were unskilled in weaving, but became quite skilled in machine tending.) Meanwhile, the master weavers were still out of work.
This new way produces trash. A common criticism of new ways is that the quality of products made the old way is better because the people producing those products are seasoned and take pride in their work. That high quality, however, may not be important to the use of the product. An example of this is hand copying manuscripts versus print pressing them. You won't get illuminated scripts on a printing press (to start with), but you don't need illumination for a handbill announcing a Saturday Sale. A contemporary example of this is the resistance to GM foods. The people who don't want to be disrupted by this technology complain that genetically modified products may not be safe and do not have adequate levels of nutrition.
This new way is dangerous. Yes, doing anything a new way requires experimentation, but a big part of what is being researched as any new technology is implemented is how to do the new things in safe ways.
The rich are getting richer. This is playing the “class card”. If this new way of doing things is worth its salt, yes, it will get big and many people will make money on it. The more disruptive it is, the more wealth it will create. Curiously, this finger pointing is often pointing at people who are newly wealthy; but those doing the pointing are either uninformed or conveniently ignore this.

These are some examples of things people chatter about when a new technology starts disrupting a community. They are very real fears; the losers will be hurt. And the fears can make a big difference because when a technology is new it is like a tender shoot and it can be trampled into oblivion. Acceptance of new ways is not inevitable. Ming China's government turning against industrializing in the 15th century is a large scale example of this happening. Their society had built a foundation that could have produced an Industrial Revolution, but the government chose not to advance further in that direction. Glacially slow acceptance of nuclear technology for energy is a contemporary example.

Conclusion

Humankind gains a lot from researching and embracing new ways of doing things. But the gain is spotty - there are big losers as well as big winners. For this reason technophobia - fear of embracing new technologies - is real and powerful, and it plays a significant role in how communities accept new ideas.

This means that new technologies must be planned for and prepared for. The next sections give some more specific examples.