BY LETTER
Ludd
Culture and Society > Cultures and Sub-Cultures
Culture and Society > Politics & Government > Subversives
Culture and Society > Politics & Government > Subversives
 Image from Steve Bowers |
Ludds, Luddites | |
| Definition: | anti-tech and often anti-AI biont sociotype |
|---|---|
| Toposophic Level: | Baseline Equivalent |
| Major Sophont Phyla: | baseline-equivalent (rarely pure genome baselines, more often plebhu and lazurobaseline idealists). Occasionally also other nearbaseline subspecies, but this is rare |
| Affiliation: | non-aligned/independent |
| Metapsychology: | traditionalist, conservative, reactionary, individualist (leaders only), supportive (within the group), technophobic, aiphobic |
| Metaethics: | supremacist, utopian, cooperation within the group or with others of like mind, full sentient rights and considerations extended to other hu clades, but rarely to other biont species and phyla, let alone other sophont categories, usually friendly and helpful to other ludds |
| Ideology: | Hu Supremacist, pre-singularity romanticist, sometimes supernaturalist theocratic and messianic religions |
| Culture and Art: | mostly religious or traditional-centered, emphasise culture-heroes, the delights of (often romanticised and idealised) lo tech primitivism, tales of hu victory over |
| Some representative Clades and Subcultures: | The Church of the Original Ludd, The True Kaczynskites and off-shoots, variants, and imitators, The Havenites (Original, Reformed, etc), the New Havenites, Bayuottianist ideologies of various kinds, the Church of Noble Hu, the Society of God (lower Perseus regions), The Church of Man (Traditional) |
| Current Galactographic Distribution: | found in widely dispersed communities, mostly isolated from the main nexus. The largest concentration is in the counterspinwise Perseus Rift |
| Civilization Tech Level: | generally Lo Tech or Middle Tech, although a few more liberal groups like the Church of Man (Traditional) are High Tech. |
| Power and Influence | Negligible |
| Some Characteristic Polities | Tylansia, The Reydovan Empire, and a number of similar extreme or eccentric polities. The Interplanetary Age Aryan Morningstar League is sometimes cited by less-informed critics, but their society was so dysfunctional and ludicrous that even the most extreme and autocratic ludds dismiss it as 'AI disinformation' or as 'pseudo-luddism' |
Anglic, abbreviation of luddite - early Industrial Age group who destroyed labor-saving machinery in protest of the Industrial Revolution. A Luddite is anyone who rejects advanced sephirotic and equivalent technology. Ludds only use tech that can be used by ordinary humans; without needing transapients or advanced ai to operate. The ideology is tied in with hu pride, getting back to the roots, freedom and independence from AI, and so on. There is sometimes overlap between ludds and hu supremacists.
Not all ludds are prims; some prefer an Atomic or early Information Age level of technology. There are even a few unscrupulous ludd leaders who keep advanced tech for themselves while ensuring the masses under their control are disempowered by lack of technology.
So a Ludd might be anything from pre-industrial age "lo tech" to the equivalent of old interplanetary age "hi tech". However those latter would be considered pseudo-Ludds and very much held in contempt by "genuine" (extreme) ludds. It is only those very liberal and "small l" ludds that would allow the use of vots and other such advanced tech aids.
Most large ludd and hu supremacy polities (the type that would own large ships, or even a fleet) fall into two camps.
- Confined Ludds, which can be found in wildhu reserves, where there are limitations on how far they could go; if they try to break out they are quickly neutralised
- Free Ludds, these are found in the more isolated regions and have a lot of freedom. However, few survive long because generally an ISO or aggressive swarm comes along and claims the system
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Development Notes
Text by M. Alan Kazlev
Initially published on 18 May 2003.
Initially published on 18 May 2003.
