By Steven L. Shields
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The Luddite movement began in England in 1811 and was put down by military force in 1816. At one time there were more British soldiers fighting the Luddites in England than those fighting Napoleon's army on the continent.
The protesters were comprised of textile workers who smashed weaving machines. They argued that by replacing people with machines, the rich factory owners could avoid labor laws. They weren't opposed to technology itself. There was the problem, though, that machines took away thousands of jobs from skilled workers.
In recent years, the term "Luddite" has been used to describe someone who is anti-technology. The term "Neo-Luddism" has emerged to describe this 20th-century adaptation.
A "Second Luddite Congress" was held in the U.S. in 1996, at which the attendees argued for passive resistance to consumerism and "the increasingly bizarre and frightening technologies of the Computer Age." They may be right.
Growing up, everyone around me was excited about computer technology. We would be able to complete tasks quickly and more efficiently.
I contend we have less free time than ever before. We spend so much time surfing the web, or social media, or television programs that are on demand. People's heads are buried in their cellphones everywhere I look. I'm equally guilty.
Recently, I was disturbed to learn that someone had hacked my Starbucks card. A reload to the card, which is tied to my Visa card, was done at a store 200 km away. That person was using my Starbucks Gold card and my Visa card for purchases over 100,000 won ($89).
Not only did Starbucks have to issue me a new card, but the bank had to issue a new Visa card also. What a hassle. Such a problem is extreme, but how often have you been to the store, the bank, a restaurant, or another place of business to find their computers are "down" and they cannot process your payment electronically?
Consider the increasingly realistic possibility of EMP (electromagnetic pulse) radiation. One pulse over Seoul would throw us back to early Joseon times. In a moment, all the banks would stop, all the businesses would shut down, there would be no electricity, no cellphone service.
All the cars (except for some old ones) would stop in their tracks, never to be started again. Smart fridges would stop working; we'd have to walk up 40 flights of stairs to our apartments in Ilsan. There would be no air travel because planes could not run, and airport systems would shut down.
Then there is the rampant consumerism that pervades society at all levels. Faster computers are always being produced and marketed to us. Cellphone manufacturers are always coming up with a new model _ they have to stay in business.
If people stopped buying the new models, Samsung and LG and Apple would be hurting. I have a friend who started his own "celluseum" in his living room. He has a large display case with all the older model cellphones and pads that he has bought and used over the past 20 years. He spent millions of won over that time.
What would we do without technology? How would we live? Despite all the doomsday prophecies of the Luddites and the scary prospect of EMP radiation, I'm not ready to give up my iPad or computer.
I do still own a typewriter, so as long as I can get a ribbon for it, I could still write. But who would I write for, how could anything be published?
There have often been Luddite tendencies in the history of society. Innovation is not always appreciated. Stories are told of the challenges of bringing electricity to Seoul; of opposing ideas about the coming of the electric tram through the city. Over the last 150 years, there have been many political and economic battles fought in Korea dealing with "modernization."
I remember a story told of the first locomotive train. Many were frightened, worried that traveling at such high speeds of 20 km/hour would cause the body to be torn apart. My grandfather believed airplanes were the devil's work. "If man were meant to fly," he said, "God would have given him wings."
We cannot stop the increasingly fast advances in technology, but we can make decisions about how much of it to adopt, when to replace older pieces of equipment, and how to use technology helpfully. Good luck in your choices and may the EMP wave never strike.
Steven L. Shields (slshields@gmail.com) lived in Korea for several years in the 1970s and 1990s to 2000s. He served as copy editor of The Korea Times in 1977. He is a retired clergyman and a life member of the Royal Asiatic Society-Korea Branch.
