VLVL Is it OK to be a misoneist?

[R. Fiero]

jbor wrote:
>And yet, there's Pynchon's own apparent defence of Luddism -- 
>perhaps the most misoneistic and reactionary of all 
>sensibilities -- in that 1984 article:
>
>http://www.themodernword.com/pynchon/pynchon_essays_luddite.html
>
>I suspect there's somewhat more ambivalence evident in 
>Pynchon's writings than some commentators are willing to acknowledge. . . .

 From M&D: "'Eeh! I am the Sniffer sniff'd, as Parker said when 
he put his Head in the Bear's Den . . .?"'

If jbor wants to bring in a certain essay he may out of 
politeness care to read the last bit of that essay:

"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. Meantime, as Americans, we can 
take comfort, however minimal and cold, from Lord Byron's 
mischievously improvised song, in which he, like other 
observers of the time, saw clear identification between the 
first Luddites and 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!"