Cloning, and is it OK to Be a Luddite?

[Brett Coley]

Well, with all the news about cloning, sheep, and I thought I heard
something on the radio about a rhesus monkey, I thought it was time to
go read "Is It OK to Be a Luddite?" again.  On the web at:

  http://www.pomona.edu/pynchon/uncollected/luddite.html

What do you all think about this essay?  The last paragraph, in part

 If our world survives, the next great challenge to watch out for will
 come -- you heard it here first -- when the curves of research and
 development in artificial intelligence, molecular biology and robotics
 all converge.  Oboy.  It will be amazing and unpredictable, and even the
 biggest of brass, let us devoutly hope, are going to be caught
 flat-footed.  It is certainly something for all good Luddites to look
 forward to if, God willing, we should live so long.

makes me wonder if he's been sucked in by a "false promise" of salvation
held out by these technologies?  Does this paragraph make you think of
something like the "Borg", or something more mind-expanding, liberating?

Regards,
Brett