Luddites

[JBFRAME at aol.com]

If our world survives, the next great challenge to watch out for will come -- 
you heard it here first -- when the curves of research & development in 
artificial intelligence, molecular biology & robotics all converge. Oboy. It 
will be amazing & unpredictable, & 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. 
Meantime, as Americans, we can take comfort, however minimal & cold, from 
Lord Byron's mischievously improvised song, in which he, like other observers 
of the time, saw clear identification between the first Luddites & our own 
revolutionary origins. It begins: As the Liberty lads o'er the sea
Bought their freedom, and cheaply, with blood,
So we, boys, we
Will die fighting, or live free,
And down with all kings but King Ludd!    

                       ---Thomas Pynchon , Is It O.K. to Be a Luddite? 
    

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