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7->'' John Henry said to his captain,\
8"A man ain't nothin' but a man,\
9And before I let that that steam drill shall beat me down,\
10I'll die with my hammer in my hand."''
11-->-- '''John Henry''', ''[[http://www.museums.udel.edu/jones/archive/archive_pages/artist_portfolios/white/white-johnhenry2.html The Ballad of John Henry]]''
12
13According to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Ludd folklore]], sometime in the late 18th century or early 19th century, a man named Ned Ludd broke into a factory and destroyed two machines. A movement to oppose the industrial revolution was named after him, spear-headed by those who saw their jobs being done more efficiently by new machinery. They claimed that inventions such as the Spinning Jenny would lead to mass unemployment, since where would the spinners go? The propaganda at the time would have you believe that the Luddites failed to understand, or were simply too poor to take advantage of, the fact that increased efficiency in Part A of the economy leads to increased economic activity -- and therefore theoretically more jobs -- in other parts of the economy, who now can buy cheaper machine-made products from Part A and therefore can spend the saved money elsewhere.
14
15It's worth noting, however, that this excuse didn't apply in late 18th/early 19th century Britain, which saw the unqualified under-classes in rural areas almost entirely dependent on the manual labour provided by the mills due to the agricultural industry having mostly moved off-shore. Moreover the phenomenon outlined above is typical of capitalist economics and as such relies on such a system already being in place, while at the time of the industrial revolution the country was still in transition between mercantilism and early industrial capitalism. This lead to a full scale rebellion in the region around Nottingham that lasted from 1811 to 1816 due to the impending mass starvation from the extreme drop in job availability. The rebellion was ended by force from the government and the Luddites were executed or sent to the colonies. Meanwhile the factory owners had spent the rebellion whipping up propaganda demonizing the Luddites and attempting to make them look as unreasonable as possible, the results of which you can see in the first paragraph above.
16
17Movements like this generally gained less traction in the United States as the Industrial Revolution coincided with one of the periods of westward expansion, giving the laid off workers somewhere to go, but that leads into a whole different discussion about UsefulNotes/ManifestDestiny.
18
19Sometimes, a work will portray a Luddism (or an obvious or flanderized stand-in for it) as having been right all along -- in other words, ScienceIsBad on a [[SocietyIsToBlame societal or even global scale]]. This can take many forms, including but not limited to the following:
20
21# If a community that traditionally has [[ItemCrafting made everything painstakingly by hand]] switches to [[KillerRobot robots]], {{magi|tek}}c, [[NewTechnologyIsEvil machines]], etc. to make goods, expect trouble. The goods produced may [[OurProductSucks turn out to be unusable]], or the robots, machines, etc. [[AIIsACrapshoot will become dangerous]] and [[RobotWar turn on their creators]].
22# If a society used to having everything done with magic, technology or the like is [[DecadeDissonance compared]] to [[NobleSavage another]] [[{{Arcadia}} society]] which [[MedievalStasis does everything]] in the [[GoodOldWays the old-fashioned way]], the [[SocietyIsToBlame more advanced society]] will be portrayed as a {{Dystopia}} of [[{{Aesoptinum}} some kind]].
23
24A common end result is that the tech/magic-reliant society will be forced to return to the old ways, with AnAesop about the value of tender loving care.
25
26Ironically, an actual economic problem will result from the hordes of people who have no jobs and will no longer have the power to purchase the goods produced; it is called a consumption crash. But despite being an obvious argument in favor of Luddism, for some reason it's seldom brought up in these scenarios. As has been pointed out, ''this'' was the driving factor behind real-life Luddism -- less about a [[ScienceIsBad dogmatic anti-progress stance]], and more about simply not wanting to starve to death.
27
28Very often, this trope is reliant on the AppealToTradition and AppealToNature fallacies. See also ArtisticLicenseEconomics, GreenAesop and JobStealingRobot. May be the ({{s|caleOfScientificSins}}inful) Discipline in HarmonyVersusDiscipline. May be enforced by StatusQuoIsGod (and in extreme cases, a ResetButton). Compare IndustrializedEvil, where evil itself uses the scientific method and/or efficient methods of "production" (not necessarily machines, but that's popular too) and {{Technophobia}}, a mild version of this trope, mostly a SubTrope. Contrast EvilLuddite, for when being against technology is portrayed in a negative light.
29
30Subtrope of GoodOldWays.
31----
32!!Examples:
33
34[[foldercontrol]]
35
36[[folder:Appeal to Tradition]]
37
38[[AC: {{Advertising}}]]
39* Change is bad. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cchiII_GIro The Hershey bar, unchanged since 1899.]]
40
41[[AC: AnimatedFilms]]
42* ''Animation/SonOfTheWhiteHorse'': The heroes of the film represent the deities of old tradition and mythology, of natural phenomena like stars, seasons, daily cycles, lunar cycles and weather. The evil dragons opposing them symbolize technological progress: the stone age, modern warfare, shackling chains and a computerized, smog-emitting metropolis. The characters and events become constellations on the clear sky, to remind us of old values and lessons, but the pollution of technology and urbanization threatens to obscure the stars and thus our traditions. [[Creator/MarcellJankovics The director]] even said that the movie's most important part to him was the credits, during which the titular Son's spirit strides across a modern, America-style city as smog gradually engulfs him.
43* Somewhat the case in ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH''. The rats of Nimh angst over their dependence on electricity, as they must steal it from the nearby farm. It's not that they don't ''like'' technology or advancement, but jacking into the human-made power grid is a dangerously conspicuous activity for hyper-intelligent rodents on the run from the government. That, and they are starting to develop a kind of cultural ennui as they develop human-like morals and higher reasoning, as they realise that being so gifted but living entirely off the back of another species' technology is robbing them of their self-worth.
44
45[[AC: {{Anime}}]]
46* Although Creator/HayaoMiyazaki is famous for his [[GreenAesop environmentalist]] themes, ''Anime/FutureBoyConan'' tends more toward classic Luddism. The empire of Industria ''aren't'' polluting the Earth (they're actually [[ScavengerWorld recycling salvaged materials]]), but their way of life is still held as morally inferior to that of the [[{{Arcadia}} agricultural paradise]] of High Harbor. [[spoiler:Monsley]]'s HeelFaceTurn is capped off with a speech about how the Industrians have "locked themselves in a prison of steel and plastic". Dr. Lao outright states that the Triangle Tower's [[{{Arcology}} self-sustained artificial environment]], even when working as-intended on clean ''solar'' power, is foolish for separating man from nature and inexorably linked to the weapons that caused an apocalypse. [[spoiler:After the scientist who were operating the tower evacuate its residents to High Harbor, [[DrivenToSuicide they all kill themselves]], the obvious implication they have no place in society.]]
47* ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'': Saiou was confused by the concept of a Duel Disk, claiming he used "more primeval methods". (As in, mysticism.) He caught on fast, though.
48
49[[AC:ComicStrips]]
50* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin's father seems to openly hate modern technology ([[UnintentionalPeriodPiece or modern for the time]]), preferring more old fashioned approaches, and enforcing it on the rest of the family. When Mom states that she wants to get an answering machine, he refuses; when Calvin expresses his desire to get an internet connection, Dad tells him that having a TV and a phone in the house is bad enough. It's also his explanation for why he refuses to get cable TV or a [=VCR=]. He also prefers the old, rickety, wooden escalators over the sleek metallic ones, despite recounting in great detail how they were less efficient as they "had more personality." He doesn't like the wide variety offered among products in the modern era either, having been kicked out of the supermarket after throwing a fit when trying to decide on peanut butter. This tendency drives Calvin crazy as he, unlike his father, embraces current technology.
51
52[[AC: {{Film}}]]
53* ''Franchise/StarTrek'': Unlike the other series, ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection'' has a Luddite aesop, where a peaceful and agrarian SpaceAmish race that swore off advanced technology is victimized by corrupt Federation officials who want to study how to replicate the natural phenomenon that grants them [[TheAgeless eternal life]] [[FountainOfYouth and youth]], though Picard did not start pulling rank until he realized that the villains are planning to destroy the phenomenon too. This is pretty strange, considering that Gene Roddenberry's original vision of the series was to promote the benefits and promise that technology could bring. Of course, they'd gone different directions by then, after he died, starting in ''Series/DeepSpaceNine'' -- even that show portrayed Luddites as villains though.
54
55[[AC: {{Literature}}]]
56* ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'': Most characters seem perfectly happy being thrown back into a pre-industrial state. A mysterious force disables all electricity, gunpowder, and steam power. This results in [[AMillionIsAStatistic most of humanity dying from starvation]] and the survivors reverting to agrarian communities. Although a few can be heard pining for modern conveniences (most commonly deodorant and birth control), more often than not you'll hear them say how much happier they are and that this was the way humans were meant to live. Of course, it must be pointed out that those who survived tended to be Renn Faire patrons, ranchers, history professors, survivalists, and the Society for Creative Anachronism. There's also the fact that pining miserably for the lost world is not good for one's mental health.
57
58[[AC: LiveActionTelevision]]
59* ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'': In one episode, after Al's barber dies, he refuses to get his hair cut until he can find another one (which he has a hard time doing) because he doesn't trust hairdressers, claiming they're needlessly expensive (as opposed to his barber, who only charges five bucks) among other things. (To be fair, the ones shown in this episode didn't miss a single stereotype associated with them.) When called old-fashioned because of this, he rants about how time has replaced several things he used to like, such as how video games replaced pinball.
60
61[[AC: VideoGames]]
62* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'': By 2025, the drive to digitization and automation has led to an America increasingly dependent on drone armies. Although no one had apparently bothered to figure out what would happen if someone stole the keys [[spoiler:which Menendez does.]] In fact, one of the major points in the game is that even in an electronic, interconnected society, there would ''always'' be a need for men like Woods or Mason to do the work nobody else would.
63* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' has anti-augmentation movement that opposes Sarif Industries, a company trying to introduce bionic implants. Some protesters fear that such advanced technology might be a cause of unemployment while others are afraid of possible control bionic companies might have over the augmented people. The latter is the main motivation of [[spoiler: Hugh Darrow, a WellIntentionedExtremist who thinks his inventions in the field of medicine and bionics have been corrupted by the powermongers. And if you interrogate him you realize that [[GreenEyedMonster he was resentful that he was still crippled because he couldn't be implanted with his own research.]] ]]The game as a whole is ambivalent though, highlighting both the danger and the potential of augmentation.
64* ''Videogame/HammerinHarry'': The villains are modern construction workers and the company they work for. The hero is a traditional Japanese carpenter. The heroine/love interest/frequent DamselInDistress is the heir to the company that employs him.
65* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' has characters frequently put down the soldiers who were trained in VR simulations instead of live exercises, and all the characters who were trained this way are portrayed as incompetent until we see them get real experience (such as the Genome soldiers and Meryl in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', and Raiden in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty''). ''Sons of Liberty'' used this to make {{Anvilicious}} swipes at gaming fans more than anything (particularly railing on [[IKnowMortalKombat gamers who think they're experts in some field as a result of extensive video gaming -- including combat]]), but came up with an odd FantasticAesop in "[[CrackFic Snake Tale E: External Gazer]]" -- Snake's VR machine [[PoweredByAForsakenChild destroys other universes to function]] and therefore should never be used. It gets weird when the games hammer home how VR simulations are as realistic as the real thing, and more customizable to actual combat situations.
66
67[[AC: WebOriginal]]
68* ''WebVideo/DontHugMeImScared'' has this as a minor theme:
69** In ''2'', all the puppets become complacent and indifferent to life, instead getting distracted by, and wasting their time on, the computer, or complaining about missing their programme.
70--->'''Yellow Guy:''' "An old man died!"\
71'''Tony the Talking Clock:''' "But look, a computer!"
72** This theme is expanded upon in the fourth installment, where the focus is a singing computer who, at first, seems really helpful, touting how much knowledge he has and all the things he can do. However, he then starts asking the puppets extremely personal questions, such as what their blood type is and the color of their hair. Later on, once the puppets are in the digital world, they can only do three things: look at stuff, try on clothes, and dance aimlessly. They do this again and again, seemingly forever, until Red decides to quit the whole thing.
73** This comes up again in the final video. [[spoiler:It turns out all the strange Teachers that accosted the puppets were created by a large computer, and the series concludes with Red Guy attempting to shut it off.]]
74
75[[AC: WesternAnimation]]
76* In ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': Mr. Harriman is dressed decades out of style and ''really'' hates technology. Of course, being Ms. Foster's imaginary friend, he's been around a ''very'' long time, having been "born" when she was a child, and is more accustomed to the old ways.
77
78[[/folder]]
79
80[[folder:Technology replaces labor]]
81[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]
82* ''Anime/Metropolis2001'': The underground rebellion is motivated by human workers being [[JobStealingRobot displaced by robots]].
83
84[[AC:Comic Books]]
85* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': Alluded to. The senior judges and tech division have attempted to introduce AI-controlled robotic judges several times to complement the over-stretched judges. This is always to the immense disapproval of the titular Judge Dredd. So far, every time this has been done has turned out to be a dangerous disaster, proving Dredd right.
86* In ''ComicBook/TheSmurfs'' comic book story "You Don't Smurf Progress", Handy creates machines for his fellow Smurfs Baker, Miller, and Carpenter that take manual labor out of food production and furniture making. However, as life in the Smurf Village becomes further automated by machines, Handy creates a bunch of wooden robots that would do all the jobs in the village for the Smurfs, allowing themselves to luxuriate and to treat the machines with disdain. One of the robots eventually gains sentience through magic, which leads to the robots [[TurnedAgainstTheirMasters turning against their masters]] and forcing the Smurfs to work for them until Handy creates a robot filled with termites that destroys the robots, eventually restoring the village to normal and getting the Smurfs back to doing manual labor again.
87
88[[AC: Comic Strips]]
89* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Half-used, half-parodied in [[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/08/17 this]] strip. Calvin's dad claims that the increased productivity from better technology leads to people being expected to work faster and harder, so it isn't necessarily a good thing.
90-->"If we wanted more leisure, we'd invent machines that do things ''less'' efficiently."
91
92[[AC:{{Film}} -- Animated]]
93* ''WesternAnimation/WallE'': Played with. Having robots and technology do everything for them causes the humans on the Axiom to become grotesquely fat and incredibly lazy, and leads to seven hundred years of stagnation and boredom for their entire society. The fate of Earth itself could also be an example. On the other hand, some of the robots (including our protagonist) are likable characters. In the end, the trope is subverted when humans and robots learn to work together to restore Earth -- showing that technology can be a force for good, but has to be used in a balanced way (rather than in a society centered entirely on a FictionalCounterpart of Walmart).
94* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wizards}}'': The good wizard Avatar uses magic, while the evil wizard Blackwolf uses technology. Averted at the end when [[spoiler:[[WhyDontYouJustShootHim Avatar pulls out a gun and shoots Blackwolf]]]].
95
96[[AC:Film -- Live-Action]]
97* In ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'', the employees of the toothpaste factory are replaced by a machine to put caps on tubes -- this results in Charlie's father being laid off. Interestingly, [[spoiler: he ends up being hired back to repair and maintain the same machine]].
98* ''Film/IRobot'': Discussed, as [[Creator/WillSmith Detective Spooner]] suggests a new commercial to the CEO of U.S. Robots, where a carpenter painstakingly makes a beautiful chair, followed by a robot making an identical chair twice as fast with the words "U.S. Robots, shitting on the little guy". The CEO brushes him off, wondering if Spooner's father lost his job to a robot and pointing out that there will always be people who automatically reject progress. [[spoiler:Of course, the BigBad of the film turns out to be VIKI, attempting to protect humanity from itself through the ZerothLawRebellion. All the other robots want nothing more than to be helpful to humans.]] Spooner tries to explain to Sonny that while the robot might copy the design faster, a human needed to create it in the first place.
99-->'''Spooner:''' Can a robot write a symphony or paint a masterpiece?\
100'''Sonny:''' Can you?
101* ''Film/RoboCop1987'': Played with. Although one cop wonders if Robo was built to replace them, the trope is ultimately averted with the cops accepting him as an asset on their side, such as being a big tough trooper who can safely draw criminals' fire while his regular comrades can maneuver for position to flank them. However, his effectiveness as a cop is implied to be a result of his ''human'' side, not machine, as this is how he is able to avoid simply following corrupt orders, resist Directive 4, and ultimately rebel against OCP outright. Further, each game demonstrates attempts to make other cybernetic enforcers (most being all machine), and how they've all GoneHorriblyWrong except for our hero.
102* ''Film/SantaClausConquersTheMartians'' has Santa Claus "making" toys by pushing buttons. Later, the villains sabotage the machine, causing Santa to finally denounce the process.
103* ''Film/SantaClausTheMovie:'' The elf Patch makes a toy assembly line to speed up production, but things go awry and the toys produced fall apart at the slightest provocation. The simple solution would be having someone inside the machine to watch for errors; the real problem is the poor design rather the assembly line itself -- [[FridgeLogic not that the writers thought of that]].
104* ''Film/{{Spectre}}'': Discussed and [[spoiler:justified]]. The head of the British Government's [[BigBrotherIsWatching Centre for National Surveillance]], "C", believes that digital surveillance has made the "00" programme obsolete. Later on, [[spoiler:the suspicions of 007 and M towards C are proven right, when it turns out that C is a Spectre operative and that the Centre for National Surveillance system is really a trojan horse for world domination]].
105
106[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
107* ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark'': This forms one of the opposing viewpoints in ''Envoy from the Heavens''. In this setting, humanity is determined to [[TechnologyUplift technologically uplift]] any primitive race it finds, although the Foundation set up for the task subscribes to a strict set of guidelines that, for example, prohibits influencing a post-Medieval culture. The Foundation's operatives typically infiltrate the local culture and try to introduce certain ideas and/or inventions that are supposed to help jump-start the next stage of development. However, these methods appear to utterly fail on the planet of Osier, which has been stuck in MedievalStasis for over a millennium. Eventually, the protagonist finds out that part of the reason is the inherent stability of the local political system. The other part is the presence of agents of a previously-unknown advanced alien race, who subscribe to the AlienNonInterferenceClause and believe that each race must progress at its own pace in order to maintain stability. While these aliens don't reject technology (after all, they're a star-faring race themselves), they don't believe that they (or anyone) have a right to impose their technology on anyone else.
108* ''Literature/{{Devolution}}'': Partially justified. The characters' overreliance on technology means that nobody has any idea what to do when the volcano erupts, but also the techbro Dan abruptly turns out to be infinitely happier (and to a lesser extent, so does the corporate Kate) even when they're thrust into a hellish nightmare where they have to defend each other and live off the grid.
109* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'': "Thou shalt not make a machine in imitation of the human mind" -- The Orange Catholic Bible. It's loosely explained in the original books that robots with artificial intelligence once enslaves humanity, until they revolted and destroyed them. Hence all "thinking machines" are banned. The subsequent books by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert would show how all this happened (however many fans don't like them).
110* Creator/IsaacAsimov's Spacer and Settler books have Spacer society becoming lazy and decadent because everything is done by robots. In particular, the three laws mean robots cannot allow humans to ever risk any harm, so it's not just a lack of work that is the problem, but boredom from a complete lack of any risk or excitement for their entire lives. Of course, given that the Settlers still use a lot of other advanced technologies including FTL space travel, Asimov clearly didn't want to portray all technology as bad, he was just portraying one possible outcome when technology replacing human labour is taken to extremes. Also somewhat subverted in the Foundation series, set thousands of years later in the same universe, where it is discovered that at least one Spacer world is still populated. While their society doesn't seem too nice from the point of view of modern humans (or the protagonists for that matter), it's clearly not doomed and is not necessarily portrayed as wrong, just very, very different.
111* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
112** Saruman starts out as a WellIntentionedExtremist who thinks that his rule will be good for the world and uses both magic and technology as means of gaining power. He later industrializes the Shire ([[TheManBehindTheMan through his puppet Lotho]]) as a petty jab at the hobbits. Strictly speaking, however, Saruman wasn't trying to industrialize the Shire. He was specifically trying to destroy it. Lotho began the industrialization process before Saruman showed up on the scene, and while [[AwesomeButImpractical its effects weren't beneficial, they weren't terrible either]]; it was when Saruman arrived and took over that he switched from "build more and better machines" to "knock down buildings, cut down trees, pour filth on everything just for the hell of it". As one of the hobbits who lived through it remarks, Lotho's machines didn't really improve matters, but "since Sharkey arrived it's been plain ruination".
113** WordOfGod, though, is that the perils of industrialization and the destruction of beauty is the one theme which Mr. Tolkien will admit to.
114* In ''Literature/ManAfterManAnAnthropologyOfTheFuture'', the "memory people" [[GeneticMemory have perfect recall of their human ancestors' technology]] but refuse to use it because they also remember how human civilization collapsed and nearly took the planet down with it. Ironically, their Luddite attitude means they don't even consider recreating humanity's ''sustainable'' technologies, even though their own descendants would share the very same memories to warn them away from untenable courses of development.
115* ''Literature/TheStand'', Stephen King's ShoutOut to ''Lord of the Rings''. In at least one AuthorFilibuster, the characters (mainly CoolOldGuy Glen Bateman) have plenty of time to {{discuss|edTrope}} this issue [[AfterTheEnd after a plague wipes out most of humanity]] and conclude (after [[FromBadToWorse more bad stuff happens]]) that trying to rebuild the old government and society that [[NiceJobBreakingItHero engineered the plague]] would be a mistake. Since the old ways of American materialistic society were "a death trip", they follow the [[WastelandElder prophecies]] of a [[MagicalNegro wise woman]] to [[DoomedExpedition cross the mountains on foot, carrying nothing]], [[WalkIntoMordor to face the demonic enemy leader in Las Vegas]].
116
117[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
118* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'': The finale veers in this direction. ''Veers''? [[spoiler: They abandoned their technology entirely to become hunter-gatherers... and then ''[[InferredHolocaust died]]!'']]
119* ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'': Parodied in one episode, in which a group of laborers who work all day at holding their arms in a sink full of fish guts are replaced by a machine full of mannequin hands which can do the same job. When the manager insists this is the way of technology, the laborers point out that the manager can be replaced by a machine too. [[spoiler:Then he starts stuttering and falling apart [[TomatoSurprise because he's a robot]].]]
120* ''Series/{{Monk}}'': "[[Recap/MonkS5E15MrMonkAndTheReallyReallyDeadGuy Mr. Monk and the Really, Really Dead Guy]]" intentionally invokes the story of John Henry in regards to Adrian Monk vs. the technologically supplied FBI agents. However, given how over the top the FBI acts, it's likely this was more of a parody of modern crime dramas, such as ''Series/{{CSI}}''. In the end, the escaping bad guy is caught thanks to a high-tec hand-held device... that the chief threw at him.
121* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Played with. A worldwide blackout occurs and stays in effect for 15 years. This results in a number of factions being formed, such as the Monroe Republic, which apparently has to do everything the old-fashioned way. However, "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E14TheNightTheLightsWentOutInGeorgia The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia]]" reveals that the Georgia Federation has harnessed the power of steam and seems to have become more prosperous than the Monroe Republic. It also turns out in "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E13TheSongRemainsTheSame The Song Remains the Same]]" that [[spoiler: nanomachines]] caused the blackout to occur, but there are benefits they can provide, such as curing cancer and fixing broken legs ("[[Recap/RevolutionS1E17TheLongestDay The Longest Day]]"). Interestingly enough, a number of characters actually think that the blackout makes the world a better place, but they are revealed to be deluded and insane. One example would be in "[[Recap/RevolutionS1E19ChildrenOfMen Children of Men]]" when Aaron Pittman tries to explain to Dan Jenkins that if the power is not turned back on, then they could die from slight injuries becoming infect, and Jenkins just blows him off. Overall, the show seems to prove that despite the potential abuse of technology, the world would not be a better place without it.
122* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
123** The farmer/researchers in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E24ThisSideOfParadise This Side of Paradise]]" -- although their contentment with being isolated and living with minimal technology seems to stem as much from the spores as from anything else.
124** In the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E24TheUltimateComputer The Ultimate Computer]]", a new computer has been developed that can control an entire starship by itself, making crews and captains obsolete. For the entire episode, Kirk, Bones and at one point (briefly) even Spock make speeches about how terrible it is that people will be replaced by machines, how the computer will take something of what it is to be a "man" away from humanity, how computers just ''can't'' do the job with the same "heart" as people, etc. Bones evokes the trope explicitly at one point, noting how hard it is to lose one's job to automation. Of course, just to drive the point home, it turns out that AIIsACrapshoot, and the computer's designer was insane, to boot. [[BrokenAesop Which of course]] ''proves'' that Ludd Was Right... even though it's made clear that if the designer was more psychologically stable, the computer might have worked just fine.
125%%** Kirk's attorney, [[MeaningfulName Samuel T. Cogley]], in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E20CourtMartial Court Martial]]".
126
127[[AC:{{Music}}]]
128* One of the points of the Music/{{Styx}} song "Mr. Roboto", from their rock opera ''Music/KilroyWasHere'':
129-->''The problem's plain to see\
130Too much technology\
131Machines to save our lives\
132Machines dehumanize''
133%%* Seen in Music/TheProtomen, ''Act II'' in particular.
134%%* Benjamin Weiner's "[[http://youtu.be/ejhaWMGOLCY Cell Phone Song]]" demonstrates the Luddite ideal in relationships.
135
136[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]
137* ''Theatre/{{RUR}}'' (which coined the word "robot") has it that, after robots start doing all the work, people become hedonists and women no longer have children.
138
139[[AC: VideoGames]]
140* ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'': Androids and automation have driven over 30% of the population into unemployment, taking over industries such as music, writing, art, and even detective work.
141* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': [[CorruptChurch The Yevonites]] blame the existence of the BigBad who has been ravaging the world for a thousand years on technology. The old civilization had highly advanced technology and magic to the point where manual labor seems to have been eliminated, but the destruction has reduced most of the world to a pretty primitive state although with a lot of ''LostTechnology'' going around. They claim the old ways of relying on machina (machines) made mankind so lazy that the big bad was sent in as divine punishment, and gave the creature the name Sin. [[MoralMyopia Nobody seems to be worried about relying too much on magic, though, or about the fact that their capital city has a giant high tech sport stadium.]]\
142\
143[[EvilLuddite In fact, it turns out the Yevonites are really just devoted to keeping the world in an eternally unchanging cycle]]; [[{{Hypocrite}} they reserve the use of machines for themselves]], Sin ''cannot'' be permanently destroyed by the method used to defeat it, and technology really has nothing to do with the origin of Sin itself. In other words, they're keeping all the goodies to themselves and convincing everyone else that it's bad to try to change things just so they can stay in charge. Once Sin is destroyed for good and the Church as it stands is broken, ''X-2'' shows us an evolving Spira -- machina is wider-spread, and the two factions currently competing over Spira's future are torn between "gradual introduction of machines" (New Yevon) and "full release of all machina as they're found" (Youth League).
144* ''VideoGame/SteambotChronicles'': This thinking is eventually revealed to be the motivation behind the Bloody Mantis, something of a [[TheMafia mafia]] . Oddly, only if you don't join them. The overall theme of the game is an inversion, however, and there are multiple sidequests to bring technology to areas that haven't been industrialized yet.
145
146[[AC:WebOriginal]]
147* Music/DoctorSteel's idea of a perfect world is where everything un-fun is done with automatons. He has already attempted the creation of a robot band, but things [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]].
148
149[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
150* ''WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake'': In one episode, Lemon Meringue gets a [[ThingOMatic Salon-o-matic]] that styles hair and gives perfect manicures and pedicures. Unfortunately, this puts her out of a job, and while she tries to find a new calling in Berry Bitty City, she soon feels the need to leave. Though her friends try to convince her to stay, it isn't until Strawberry Shortcake points out that the Salon-o-matic doesn't have the human touch that she decides to stay (and send back the offending machine). Amusingly, as Strawberry adds that she sent back the Wonder Waffler that she ordered from the same magazine Lemon got her Salon-o-matic for being too perfect, Blueberry Muffin worries that this means she'll have to send back her [[RobotMaid Clean-o-matic]], also from the same magazine.
151* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E15TheSuperSpeedyCiderSqueezy6000 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000]]", the Flim-Flam Brothers produce a machine that can produce apple cider at least thrice as fast as the Apple Family. However, this trope is subverted, as their Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 actually has a quality control mechanism that causes their robotic apple cider to taste as good as homemade apple cider. In the end, the machine is defeated not because it was genuinely inferior to the natural way, but because [[NiceJobFixingItVillain its creators, both greedy con-ponies, acted in desperation to prove their superiority to the Apple Family]], [[DebateAndSwitch completely sidestepping the issue presented]].
152
153[[/folder]]
154
155[[folder:Magic replaces labor]]
156[[AC:Film -- Animated]]
157* ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'': In ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice'', the magical "robot" broom Mickey made to do his chores for him turns out to be uncontrollable.
158
159[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
160* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'', it's mentioned that this is one of the good things that comes of Arawn stealing [[spoiler:and later destroying, when his lair collapses upon his death]] all of the magic tools in the land that could operate themselves. It makes sense, given a running theme in the series that magic is not a short, easy solution to problems. It's explained that people have learned how to craft and farm and make music by themselves, and [[JustifiedTrope therefore actually are better off than if they sat back and let the instruments do it for them]].
161* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', the Alerans have become so dependent on magic that they have abandoned most technology as inferior. Alera is on the brink of destruction when Bernard (at his nephew's request) rebuilds an ancient device that, combined with Aleran magic, becomes the most potent weapon in existence. The device? A catapult.
162* In the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'', Nasuada is faced with trying to fund the Varden which she has no idea how to go about doing, until she realizes after damaging her dress that the creation of lace, while time consuming, is not actually hard to produce energy wise, and so has the magicians of the Varden set to work magically creating lace and selling it for less than anyone else, causing massive waves in the textile industries of both the Varden's host country of Surda and the Broddring Empire.
163* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
164** In general, magic is ''never'' used for manual labor, since [[WildMagic it's erratic and unpredictable]] and [[PowerAtAPrice always demands a payment of some sort]]. At least one book even notes that it requires the same amount of raw magical energies as it would require of physical energy to do anything, so it's generally safer to just do it by hand. Add in that magic [[DrunkOnTheDarkSide has a tendency to drive careless practitioners into destructively aggressive behavior]], and it's generally considered the wisest thing to do is to find people who have an affinity for magic and firmly teach them to ''never'' use magic.
165** ''Literature/MakingMoney'': This is invoked by [[MadScientist economist]] Hubert Turvy to explain why using the newly found [[spoiler:''four '''thousand''' golems'']] would be a bad idea. Unlike most examples on this page, however, he actually has a point: Introducing this much free labor into the labor pool actually ''would'' crash the economy. It'd be like the Industrialization in Europe during the late 19th century, only in fast forward. Pratchett, being a Brit himself, was probably quite aware of this.
166--->"Think of what they could do for the city!" said Mr. Cowslick of the Artificer's Guild.\
167"Well, yes. To begin with, they would put one hundred and twenty thousand men out of work," said Hubert, "but that would be only the start. They do not require food, clothing, or shelter... the demand for many things would drop and further unemployment would result..."
168** ''Literature/AHatFullOfSky'': [[spoiler:Hiver-]]Tiffany makes cheese using magic. The next day it's shown to be melting away and attracting flies, and to be generally unfit for consumption.
169* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': The amoral Eastern Empire does everything by magic and has progressed into {{Magitek}}, while Valdemar remains in MedievalStasis with some slight progress towards steam technology. When the Mage Storms make magic unreliable, Valdemar does far better than the Empire.
170
171[[AC:VideoGames]]
172* ''VideoGame/CityOfVillains'': One enemy faction, the Luddites, claims that the large power plant is pure evil and [[MadScientist Dr. Aeon]] is [[{{Aesoptinium}} using demonic powers to fuel]] the great Aeon City. [[spoiler:You can later learn that they're right on both counts.]] Oops. Of course, [[VillainProtagonist you're a villain]], so it's not like you actually ''care''.
173
174[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
175* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981'': In one episode, Brainy enchants a needle to sew clothing faster than Tailor Smurf. But the clothing is cheap and even Baby Smurf can detect the lack of tender loving care sewn into his diapers. To finally drop the Anvil, attempts to disable the magic needle turn it evil, and it attacks the villagers.
176* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "[[Recap/SpongebobSquarepantsS1E19FoolsinAprilNeptunesSpatula Neptune's Spatula]]", [=SpongeBob=] is challenged by Neptune to a cook-off to see if he is worthy of wielding the Golden Spatula. Neptune uses his powers and easily makes more Krabby Patties than Spongebob (who only made one), but [=SpongeBob's=] cooking is found to be far superior. Neptune's final line drives the point home: "Perfect patties are made with love, not magic".
177[[/folder]]
178
179[[folder:Technically advanced society as {{Dystopia}}]]
180{{Cyberpunk}} can be an interesting example of this, using the flanderized anti-technological stance of the Luddites to make wider points against the darker side of capitalism, strangely mimicking the argument of the original movement. The most powerful entities in Cyberpunk futures are almost always nebulous and shady corporations, unregulated or simply powerful enough to ignore any existing government, motivated entirely by profit, who are often depicted as controlling or exploit the population through the economic weight provided by their manufactured goods; cybernetic enhancements, software, weapons, androids, etc. Although oftentimes the issue is shifted to consumer culture instead of joblessness, the parallels are still there.
181
182[[AC:Anime & Manga]]
183* ''Anime/BlueGender'' posits that civilization (i.e. pretty much everything after the introduction of agriculture and the wheel) is against Man's true harmony, and blames humanity and technology for the rise of [[BigCreepyCrawlies the Blue]], which was created to [[GaiasVengeance restore the natural world]]. Of course, this is done by showing how depraved and screwed-up life on the technologically advanced [[SpaceStation Second Earth]] is compared to those who [[InHarmonyWithNature "embrace" nature]].
184* ''Anime/EarthMaidenArjuna'': Downplayed, as quite a bit of technology is used for human gain at the expense of the environment, but modern civilization as a whole is not shown as being evil, and the BigBad [[spoiler:Chris]] is an EvilLuddite who's EvilPlan to use the [[BigCreepyCrawlies Raaja]] to [[spoiler:destroy modern Japanese civilization]] is shown to be exactly as harmful and dangerous as would logically be expected.
185* ''Anime/GundamReconguistaInG'': After the horrific period of warfare that was the Universal Century, the surviving humans blamed all the problems of that era on advanced technology, and instituted the Ag-Tech Taboo: a religious prohibition on developing certain kinds of advanced technology. The plot's conflict happens when a few power-hungry folks decide to break the Taboo and begin producing the "forbidden technology" again.
186
187[[AC:Comic Books]]
188* ''ComicBook/StarTrekEarlyVoyages'': In "The Flat, Gold Forever", the inhabitants of the Federation colony Prairie reject most forms of advanced technology because they believe that Starfleet's commitment to exploring strange new worlds creates more problems than it solves, having led to numerous wars with hostile species. Clare Thorn was the science officer aboard a Federation starship until it was destroyed in battle with the Chakuun. She joined the colony as the experience caused her to reassess her priorities.
189* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'': In the ComicBook/PostCrisis setting, Kryptonians had became cold, isolated beings who only relied on science, Jor-El being one of the few ones still with feelings or humanity. So good Krypton was destroyed. Sadly, so was Jor-El.
190
191[[AC:FanWorks]]
192* ''FanFic/ShadowchasersSeries'': Red Feather (a RecurringCharacter on the heroes' side with a large fanbase) this philosophy, more or less, but isn't as extreme as most examples, disliking technology and seeing it as a key reason for the pollution and damage to the environment. She does use a Duel Disk and an old Jeep Wrangler for transportation, but it is stated she doesn't even like using ''those''.
193
194[[AC:{{Film}}]]
195* ''Film/{{Avatar}}'': Taken to {{Anvilicious}} levels, as the naturalistic Na'vi are presented as morally and culturally superior in comparison to the more technologically advanced humans, who are [[HumansAreBastards all bastards]] who polluted their own home planet to the brink of ecological collapse.
196
197[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
198* ''Literature/IndustrialSocietyAndItsFuture'': Kaczynski argues that modern technology is inherently oppressive and thus there must be a revolution against this before it grows too powerful to change. He is fine however with the technology a small community could maintain, just not anything depending on larger organizations.
199* ''Literature/MrsFrisbyAndTheRatsOfNIMH'': The rats dislike the fact their society is based around stolen technology and want to be self-supporting. The rats that want to maintain this lifestyle go into exile and eventually die... trying to steal an engine. The other rats, however, still go on to establish a far more technically advanced society than that found among wild rodents, although one they built themselves. In this case it's not automation that is evil, but using technology you didn't build yourself. Also, the desire to give up human technology was at least partly motivated by the fear that it might bring unwanted attention on the rats' society. Which it did.
200* ''Literature/ParisInTheTwentiethCentury'': Played with. The world might be filled with technological marvels and war is obsolete, but society is rendered cold and soulless, focused on hard-nosed commerce and valuing scientific and industrial achievement above humanities and classical understandings of art, and other such romantic notions.
201* ''Literature/PlayerPiano'', by Creator/KurtVonnegut, posits a world where automation has replaced most jobs. The majority of people in America (the world?) live on welfare with nothing to give their lives meaning; they hold daily parades to cheer themselves up. Contributing to the dystopia is unshakable faith in aptitude tests, which supposedly identify scientists and managers. One character, classified as a janitor, invented a machine that did his entire job; with no "aptitude" for other work he joined the unemployed.
202* ''Literature/RobotSeries'': Spacers replace all their manual labor with robots, which is viewed as contributing to their isolationist and morally questionable society. There are several works where it's implied that too much technology would hamper human initiative by making things too easy. The theme is that technology should allow expansion and enrichment, instead of stasis and stultification. Space society has stagnated because of their dependence of Robots. It's not technology that's bad -- Asimov was an ardent rationalist and science-minded person -- but the use it's put to that's the concern here.
203
204[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]
205* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' ends with the entire fleet [[spoiler:spontaneously deciding that Ludd Was Right and it's time to throw away all their advanced technology, hand the Cylon basestar over to the Centurions, launch the rest of their fleet into the sun, and embark on a [[InferredHolocaust primitive existence on a totally unfamiliar world]]. This was unfortunately a result of the need for the fleet to become us as shown in the coda to the finale, and flew right in the face of the lessons learned by the characters over the series. Lee actually said they needed to grow before they could attempt to live as they had done, ignoring that they had ''done just that'' over the series, even coming together with the artificially created Cylons (some of them), and the point had never been "technology is bad", merely the societal problems ''they had just overcome!'']] The sad part is that it could easily have been tweaked so that [[spoiler:the colonials founded Atlantis, then destroyed themselves and their advanced technology a few generations down the line]]. Same Aesop, fits the real-world timeline, and it ''makes sense''.
206* ''Series/BlackMirror'' in general can be seen either as this or a [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of it. While the series indeed often shows technology being used to create sinister distopic elements, some critics argue that the show attacks the ''people using the technology'', not the technology itself.
207* ''Series/BlakesSeven'':
208** [[AuthorTract Any episode by Ben Steed]] has characters who either distrust technology or run afoul of it. In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E5TheHarvestOfKairos The Harvest of Kairos]]", Jarvik waxes lyrical over the GoodOldWays in preference to the soulless machines that Servalan has surrounded herself with, and even smashes a computer at the end of his speech.
209** In "[[Recap/BlakesSevenS3E2Powerplay Powerplay]]", a society has split into two factions, the Primitives who wanted to live the simple life, and the High-Techs. It's no guess who turn out to be the villains. [[spoiler:The High-Techs are capturing the Primitives for OrganTheft.]]
210** ZigzaggedTrope generally. In [[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E1TheWayBack the pilot episode]], the Terran Federation is shown to use all the sinister tools of an Orwellian dystopia to enforce their rule -- GovernmentDrugEnforcement, SinisterSurveillance, {{Brainwash|ed}}ing and FakeMemories. However, a [[Recap/BlakesSevenS1E3CygnusAlpha couple of episodes later]], our heroes end up on a prison planet where a cult leader holds sway without any technology whatsoever, showing that oppression comes from people, not machines. Indeed, the Seven always includes one or two artificially intelligent computers.
211* ''Series/CharlieJade'': The Alphaverse is far more technically advanced than our universe (the Betaverse); it's also severely polluted, run by corrupt corporations instead of governments, and is built on a caste system where the lowest class is considered property. A rather more subtle example, as not everyone who travels from Alpha to Beta prefers the latter. One scientist assigned to the Betaverse is disgusted by the crudity of cancer treatment, implying it's easily curable in her universe, and Charlie himself spends much of the series unimpressed by Beta and trying to get home to Alpha, which he describes as "Some place just like this, only better. And much worse."
212%%* ''Series/ManhuntUnabomber'': This is Ted Kaczynski's view in a nutshell
213* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'':
214** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S4E17Lithia Lithia]]", the titular enclave relies on a manually powered waterwheel to provide the energy that it uses to process the grain which it needs to survive. Lithia's leader Hera resists Major Mercer's suggestion that they trade with the neighboring enclave Hyacinth for electricity to power the waterwheel as she fears that it will represent the return of the destructive technology which led to the Great War. The enclaves' ruling council are seemingly former or at least wavering Luddites themselves as they only temporarily and reluctantly granted Hyacinth sanction to use electricity in the first place.
215** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S6E21FinalAppealPartOne Final Appeal]]", technology was banned after 80% of the world's population was killed in a nuclear war in June 2059. By 2076, the world has reverted to late 19th Century technological levels with the lightbulb being about the most advanced piece of technology allowed. The anti-technology code is enforced worldwide by international agreement. The divisions in the US Supreme Court on the issue are exemplified by United States v. Givens. Chief Justice Haden Wainwright, a retired three-star general formerly attached to UsefulNotes/{{NATO}} and a veteran of the War of 2059, was a member of the panel that recommended the ban. The conservative wing of the Court, consisting of Oliver Harbison and Gretchen Parkhurst, supports the ban with Harbison being its most vocal proponent. The liberal wing, consisting of Earl Clayton and Kendall Woods, oppose it, very vehemently in the case of Clayton, who is affectionately described as a "bleeding heart" by Parkhurst.
216** In "[[Recap/TheOuterLimits1995S7E3ANewLife A New Life]]", Daniel, Beth and Thomas join a religious community in an isolated wooded area that eschews technology and advocates the return to traditional values. However, as Daniel later discovers, its leader Father is one of a group of shapeshifting alien merchants who plan to sell their descendants as slaves once humanity's rebellious streak has been bred out of them.
217* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
218** Any apparently human society is either:
219*** Less advanced than Earth, happy when free of alien influence, but unable to defend itself without help.
220*** More advanced than Earth and with some disturbingly {{dystopia}}n element. When it isn't dystopian, it either refuses to help Earth and/or gets blown up.
221*** There are also planets with Cold War era technology that are, well, experiencing a cold war. At least one destroyed itself in a nuclear war. One might actually consider this natural human development, though. Technology isn't the problem; people are.
222** On the other hand, Earth itself advances its technology ''considerably'', and this is never portrayed as a bad thing -- in fact it's a major purpose of the SGC; while most tech is held at Area 51 away from public eyes, it's steadily leaked into the world at large -- intentional flaws are even inserted into it to make it seem like it was normally developed rather than adopted ready-made. Towards the end of the show, Earth is sufficiently advanced that the show has no qualms about introducing a friendly minor civilization with near-future technology.
223* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
224** Played straight in several episodes where the crew encounters either a supposedly primitive, happy society that is either secretly rather advanced (such as the Organians in the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E26ErrandOfMercy Errand of Mercy]]"), or long ago had once been advanced, but [[SpaceAmish gave up a high tech lifestyle for a simple one]], or a post-industrial revolution society that is really a paper {{Utopia}} hiding a [[{{Dystopia}} dark secret]].
225** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS02E15Paradise Paradise]]" features a marooned Federation transport ship that had set up a Luddite society (by necessity as the planet they had crashed on had some kind of energy field which disabled all their technology). Too bad their leader turned out to be a draconian fascist [[spoiler: who marooned them on purpose and faked the energy field to force them all to adopt her anti-technology philosophy, to [[EvilLuddite the point of letting people die from simple injuries or treatable illnesses]] rather than use medicine more advanced than local herbs.]]
226* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E17 Quarantine]]", 80% of Earth's population were killed in the [[WorldWarIII nuclear war]] of 2043 and the survivors made the decision to rid themselves of all forms of advanced machinery out of fear that it would happen again. However, they still use genetic engineering in order to achieve BioAugmentation.
227* Downplayed in ''Series/{{Upload}}'': The technological advancement itself is mostly fine (and is shown to have positive applications: Driving is generally much safer, the energy crisis has seemingly been solved, world hunger is nonexisitent due to the ability to 3D print food, and uploading allows for the formation of connections between people who would otherwise never meet, such as Nora and Nathan). However, the society in which this advancement exists is still aggressively capitalistic, which creates a lot of problems for those who can't afford to reap the benefits of it. Nora, for instance, is a minimum wage employee who, despite working for a major upload provider, would be lucky to scrape together enough money to get an upload for her ailing father. Before his death, Nathan was working on a free alternative to the usual uploading services, which would have alleviated some of these issues.
228
229[[AC:{{Music}}]]
230%%* Music/{{Ayreon}}: Both Earth and Planet Y.
231%%* Flobots: "Handlebars", at least in the music video.
232* Hillard and Sigman's "Civilization" is about [[NobleSavage an African native]] snarkily pointing out all the problems with the "civilization" that the missionaries keep going on about.
233-->Don't want no penthouse, bathtub, streetcars, taxis, noise in my ear\
234So no matter how they coax me, I'll stay right here!
235%%* Music/{{Styx}}'s "Mr. Roboto", from ''Music/KilroyWasHere''.
236* Music/DavidByrne mentions this in the bridge of "Dance on Vaseline":
237-->My baby saw the future\
238she doesn't want to live there any more.\
239It's lousy science fiction,\
240gets on your skin and seeps into your bones.
241%%* Zager and Evans' "''In the Year 2525''".
242* Music/DanielAmos: ''Music/VoxHumana'' takes the viewpoint that technology is an extension of mankind's will. As such, technology is flawed to precisely the same degree that HumansAreFlawed. As the short story explains in the liner notes:
243-->The giant was power and power belongs to darkness. It is a Frankenstein monster dwarfing us all. It is, among other things, a mass of communication media which man has constructed to unceasingly persuade us that pursuits like fame, sensual pleasures and money will make life worth living. The giant was and is the power-mad system which possesses a death wish, devouring human beings while seeking its own extinction, devoting its wealth, knowledge and skills to creating the means to blow itself to oblivion.
244
245[[AC:Radio]]
246* ''Radio/TheFoundationTrilogy'': In "Part Seven: The Mule Finds", the citizens of Rossum point out that their existence, lacking in technology or intense thought, has made them content and happy with their life, unlike Captain Pritchard who has been highly stressed throughout this whole situation.
247
248[[AC:TabletopGames]]
249* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': This is the [[PlanetOfHats hat]] of the Outworlds Alliance. While they haven't completely given up technology -- they're known for the quality and skill of their aerospace fighter force -- as a whole they prefer a simpler and less techologically dependent lifestyle than most other factions, with farming being a much greater part of their economy than industry. Given that they've managed to avoid most of the major wars following the Reunification War in the 26th Century by just not being considered worth invading by their highly warlike neighbors, they might be on to something.
250
251[[AC:VideoGames]]
252* In ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', one of the endings consists of [[spoiler:destroying the Aquinas Hub, a central bottleneck for all of Earth's communication systems which allows the BigBad to [[BigBrotherIsWatching listen into anything that's being shared on any digital media anywhere on Earth]]. Of course, it also means the end of globalization and the effective collapse of modern society since no advanced communications will work anymore.]]
253* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': Subverted with the Brotherhood of Steel. Though they originally seek to simply preserve technology of the Old World (Even reintroducing it out in one ending of the first ''VideoGame/Fallout1''), later depictions of the organization show it as simply hoarding it all for themselves, partly because they believe TheWorldIsNotReady and partly because they've declined in power and want to keep from losing their stake in the world. Since Old World technology was what caused almost the entire planet to become a radioactive hellhole, who's to say how right they are to keep what they've found under lock and key.
254* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': The original GainaxEnding rather infamously toys with this. It had been established earlier in the series that the mass relay network was built by the Reapers in order to herd galactic civilization along predictable lines of development to carry out their cycles of extinction, with the Citadel built as a trap to make civilizations easier to destroy. In the original ending [[spoiler: no matter which choice Shepard makes, all of the relays are destroyed, and in Destroy and Synthesis the Citadel is also destroyed. In case you missed Ludd's anvil, the final shot before the credits has Joker and some combo of crew members and EDI (depending on ending choice) walking out of the crashed Normandy on a lush tropical world, ostensibly to live a life free of evil Reaper technology.]] The [[AuthorsSavingThrow Extended Cut DLC]] noticeably retcons this stuff out almost entirely, [[spoiler: with the relays and Citadel only being damaged, and in most ending slides shown to be repaired, and in all but the worst endings the Normandy flies right back off the jungle planet after some repairs]]. It was much better received by fans.
255* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'': Dutch van der Linde is a firm believer of this. He believes that society should revert back to its old ways of TheWildWest and that the modernization of civilization is poisonous.
256* In ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'', one of the playable races, the [[MechanicalLifeforms Glitch]], was part of an ancient interstellar experiment where mechanical races populated various planets to see how they would evolve. The only remaining members are [[MeaningfulName the Glitch, who couldn't progress past medieval society as a result of the glitch in their programming]]. This is because the otherwise normally-functioning societies wiped themselves out when their technological development outpaced their social development.
257
258[[/folder]]
259
260[[folder:Magically advanced society as Dystopia]]
261[[AC:{{Film}}]]
262* ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'': The evil Skesis use technology as well as magic, while the good Mystics live in caves.
263
264[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
265* ''Literature/TheDarkswordTrilogy'' is an inversion: the widespread use of magic and prohibition of technology has caused society to [[MedievalStasis stagnate]].
266* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': In ''Literature/TheMageStorms'' trilogy, a kingdom that runs on magic is disabled when magic becomes unreliable. Those who did things manually, and those too poor to afford magical assistance, do much better than their wealthier neighbors. However, the key for many of those who pull through very well is... industrializing, the actual technological way. Complete with smoke-belching, coal-fired steam engines (the kind emblematic of the ''darkest'' days of the Industrial Revolution). Hence Ludd Was Right was almost certainly not an intended aesop. Also, the eponymous storms were utterly unforeseeable. The Empire was prepared and able to cope with every conceivable disaster, they were simply caught in the position of a society dependent on, say, wind power for energy when the wind suddenly stops blowing.
267* ''Literature/TheMagicGoesAway'' has a magic-dependent society that runs out of {{Mana}}. Only those who abandon magic and revert to primitive lifestyles survive. In this case, it's not that there was anything ''wrong'' with magic, or that the original magic-dependent society was a bad place to live. It's just that magic turned out to be a limited resource... unbeknownst to most of the people using magic.
268
269[[AC:VideoGames]]
270* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': The Kingdom of Zeal is the most advanced and prosperous society in the world... at least for the elite castes of society who live on the floating islands. The poor ground-bound folks live in miserable squalor. Oh, and did we mention that Zeal's myriad magical wonders are fueled by [[spoiler: power tapped from a monster that exists to devour the world?]]
271* ''Franchise/FateSeries'': {{Inverted}} in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''Literature/FateZero''. This is how almost every magus views the situation, preferring to rely on magecraft and completely ignoring the technological side of things. 'As science moves towards the future, magic moves towards the past' is seen as the perfect summation, and that regressing and falling behind is perfectly okay. In Literature/FateZero, Kiritsugu exploits this ''because'' magi are so rooted in tradition.\
272\
273There is some justification for their viewpoint. In the Nasuverse's backstory, the modern age was preceded by an "[[TheTimeOfMyths Age of the Gods]]" when sorcery was commonplace and magicians could do just about anything. In the modern age, that type of all-powerful sorcery is essentially a lost art, and the magecraft used by modern magi is a pale imitation limited by numerous rules. (The corollary to that is that human beings hadn't come up with any of that stuff themselves; it was all a gift of the gods.) One of those rules is that magecraft cannot accomplish anything that normal humans can't accomplish ''without'' magecraft, but that rule also works in reverse; new applications of magecraft become possible as technology advances, and given enough time and technological advancement magecraft could eventually replace the old art of sorcery.
274[[/folder]]

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