The term Luddite has become shorthand for “dimwitted tech-hater” or “technophobe” and the word is usually used as an insult. But the original Luddites were the victims of a very effective smear campaign.

They did not oppose (and in some cases, destroy) automated looms out of some superstitious fear of new technology. They recognized that these new machines being introduced to the factories they worked at would make the work easier and faster.

But they also recognised that none of the extra revenue would be shared with the workers: it'd just go to enrich and empower the bosses. They knew that, since this new technology lowered the amount of labour required to do the work, many of them would lose their jobs.

The Luddites were a labour movement opposing the further concentration of the means of production in the hands of the owning class: Capitalists.

The government cracked down on them, sending 12,000 troops to brutalize them, arresting and sentencing some to death. It was not the first or last time that anti-union activity would kill people.

If the Luddites had won, maybe we'd be living in a better world. If the Luddites had won, maybe less people would dismiss the statement “AI is a threat to our way of life” by saying “you're just afraid of technology”.