Editing Technophobia (section)

==History==
Technophobia began to gain attention as a movement in England with the dawn of the [[Industrial Revolution]]. With the development of new machines able to do the work of skilled craftsmen using unskilled, low-wage labor, those who worked a trade began to fear for their livelihoods. In 1675, a group of weavers destroyed machines that replaced their jobs. By 1727, the destruction had become so prevalent that [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] made the demolition of machines a capital offense. This action, however, did not stop the tide of violence. The [[Luddites]], a group of anti-technology workers, united under the name "Ludd" in March 1811, removing key components from knitting frames, raiding houses for supplies, and petitioning for trade rights while threatening greater violence. Poor harvests and food riots lent aid to their cause by creating a restless and agitated population for them to draw supporters from.<ref name=lud>{{cite web |author=Kevin Binfield |url=http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/kevin.binfield/luddites/LudditeHistory.htm |title=Luddite History – Kevin Binfield – Murray State University |publisher=Campus.murraystate.edu |access-date=2010-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610103858/http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/faculty/kevin.binfield/luddites/LudditeHistory.htm |archive-date=2010-06-10 }}</ref>

The 19th century was also the beginning of modern science, with the work of [[Louis Pasteur]], [[Charles Darwin]], [[Gregor Mendel]], [[Michael Faraday]], [[Henri Becquerel]], and [[Marie Curie]], and inventors such as [[Nikola Tesla]], [[Thomas Edison]] and [[Alexander Graham Bell]]. The world was changing rapidly, too rapidly for many, who feared the changes taking place and longed for a simpler time. The [[Romantic movement]] exemplified these feelings. Romantics tended to believe in imagination over reason, the "organic" over the mechanical, and a longing for a simpler, more [[pastoral]] time. Poets like [[William Wordsworth]] and [[William Blake]] believed that the technological changes that were taking place as a part of the industrial revolution were polluting their cherished view of nature as being perfect and pure.<ref name=romanticism>{{cite web |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html |title=Romanticism |publisher=Wsu.edu |access-date=2010-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528014616/http://www.wsu.edu/%7Ebrians/hum_303/romanticism.html |archive-date=2010-05-28 }}</ref>

After [[World War II]], a fear of technology continued to grow, catalyzed by the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]]. With [[nuclear proliferation]] and the [[Cold War]], people began to wonder what would become of the world now that humanity had the power to manipulate it to the point of destruction. Corporate production of war technologies such as napalm, explosives, and gases during the [[Vietnam War]] further undermined public confidence in technology's worth and purpose.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Goodyear|first=Anne Collins|title=From Technophilia to Technophobia: The Impact of the Vietnam|journal=Leonardo|year=2008|volume=41|issue=2|pages=169–173|doi=10.1162/leon.2008.41.2.169|s2cid=57570414}}</ref> In the post-WWII era, [[environmentalism]] also took off as a movement. The first international air pollution conference was held in 1955, and in the 1960s, investigations into the lead content of gasoline sparked outrage among environmentalists. In the 1980s, the depletion of the ozone layer and the threat of [[global warming]] began to be taken more seriously.<ref name=environment>{{cite web|url=http://www.runet.edu/~wkovarik/envhist/ |title=Environmental History Timeline |publisher=Runet.edu |date=1969-06-22 |access-date=2010-06-02}}</ref>

===Luddites===
{{main|Luddites}}
[[File:Luddite.jpg|thumb|right|160px|''The Leader of the Luddites'', engraving of 1812]]
Several societal groups are considered technophobic, the most recognisable of which are the Luddites. Many technophobic groups revolt against modern technology because of their beliefs that these technologies are threatening their ways of life and livelihoods.<ref name=Jobs>{{cite web |url=http://www.regent.edu/acad/schcom/rojc/mdic/luddites.html |title=The Luddites |publisher=Regent.edu |access-date=2010-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529165818/http://www.regent.edu/acad/schcom/rojc/mdic/luddites.html |archive-date=2010-05-29 }}</ref> The Luddites were a [[social movement]] of British artisans in the 19th century who organized in opposition to technological advances in the textile industry.<ref name=lud /> These advances replaced many skilled textile artisans with comparatively unskilled machine operators. The 19th century British Luddites rejected new technologies that impacted the structure of their established trades, or the general nature of the work itself.

Resistance to new technologies did not occur when the newly adopted technology aided the work process without making significant changes to it. The British Luddites protested the application of the machines, rather than the invention of the machine itself. They argued that their labor was a crucial part of the economy, and considered the skills they possessed to complete their labor as property that needed protection from the destruction caused by the autonomy of machines.<ref>{{cite book|last=Randall|first=Adrien|title="Reinterpreting 'Luddism': Resistance to New Technology in the British Industrial Revolution" Resistance to New Technology: Nuclear Power, Information Technology and Biotechnology|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=57–80|isbn=9780521455183|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WqlRXkxS36cC}}</ref>

===Use of modern technologies among Old Order Anabaptists===

Groups considered by some people to be technophobic are the [[Amish]] and other [[Old Order Movement|Old Order Anabaptists]]. The Amish follow a set of moral codes outlined in the [[Ordnung]], which rejects the use of certain forms of technology for personal use. [[Donald Kraybill|Donald B. Kraybill]], Karen M. Johnson-Weiner and [[Steven Nolt|Steven M. Nolt]] state in their book ''The Amish'': {{Cquote|More significantly the Amish ''modify'' and ''adapt'' technology in creative ways to fit their cultural values and social goals. Amish technologies are diverse, complicated and ever-changing.<ref>Donald B. Kraybill, Karen M. Johnson-Weiner and Steven M. Nolt: ''The Amish'', Baltimore 2013, p. 313.</ref>}}

What the Amish do, is selective use of modern technologies in order to maintain their belief and culture.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/1999/01/amish/ ''Look Who's Talking'' – an article about the selective use of technologies among the Amish.]</ref>