The Digital Joiner

Luddites and Artisans

We use the term Luddite now to describe anyone who is behind the times – "I'm a real Luddite!" you may say as you struggle to get your computer to talk to your printer. Of course the real Luddites were not just behind the times they were, in effect, terrorists.

With the industrial revolution and the machination of factories there was a sense of disempowerment amongst weavers. Their jobs went from being reasonably skilled to highly unskilled, their working conditions deteriorated dramatically. In response people got upset and, in the case of the Luddite movement, violent. We know the horrors of the Victorian factory so it is easy to find common cause with those Luddites. However their means was ultimately to use violence, destruction, and the threat thereof to coerce factory owners into abandoning machination.

Shortly after the decline of the Luddite movement the Arts and Crafts movement began. Reacting to the same working conditions, and quality of output the Arts and Crafts movement would take a different approach. Rather than a threat of violence, Artisans would simply make better products, products that had a soul and character that people would actually want to purchase. They would win on their merits not coercion.

Of course to compete with large factories Artisans could not eschew the tools those factories employed. What they could do is re-envision ways to use those tools. Ways that didn't just benefit the factory owner but also the individual worker. Hand planing and hand sanding a board - something that would have been hours of back breaking work became a job for a machine. Sawing large timbers became a job for a machine. The delicate joinery, grain matching the boards for a perfect fit – these were the craft of the Artisan.

A Measure of Success

There's still lots of cheap furniture out there – just go to an Ikea – but you would have a hard time suggesting that the Arts and Crafts movement wasn't successful. Most of what we'd consider high end furniture today follows the trends that the movements started - even cheap furniture has embraced the more modern and less superficially decorative aesthetic that the Arts and Crafts movement created. Look on YouTube for Woodworking or other maker channels, by and large they reject the Luddite approach of doing things without modern tools. Instead they embrace both modern tools and traditional craft.

We don't deride these people as having not built these things. Even if they have laser cut, or 3d printed components. The creativity is still evident in the finished product.

Knowledge Work's Industrial Revolution

AI is arguably the industrial revolution for knowledge workers. Unsurprisingly there is a loud and vocal group of "factory owners" who embrace the new technology because they see it's potential to reduce wages through employing less people, who are on average less skilled. For these people there is no question on if their industry will embrace this more mechanized approach – it's simply if they will be left behind as their competitors do. It feels to these people, much like it did to the factory owners in Victorian England, like an existential problem, keep up or perish.

We can similarly sympathize with the workers in these knowledge factories, much as we could with the weavers in Victorian times. Like in the Victorian era we also have the workers who are taking on the role of the Luddite – opposing the adoption of technology. For now the tools of these modern Luddites are fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Generally these people are well meaning, and we haven't seen people firebombing AI data centers, however it is ultimately a reactionary conservative view – keep the status quo as it benefits me. Movements of this type almost inevitably end up employing coercion or violence, or isolating themselves.

The Time for Knowledge Artisans

I think the era of AI calls for a rise in true knowledge artisans. Not people who eschew the modern tools but craftspeople who can employ them to produce something that they can imbue with soul. Much like any piece of craftsmanship we should judge the maker by the whole product not the process or the pieces. Using AI as a brainstorming helper, a research assistant, or editor shouldn't diminish the work any more than using a table saw diminishes the work a furniture maker has done.

If we look to the Arts and Crafts movement as a guide what we'll see is thoughtful craft – executed with modern tools can be successful, in fact wildly so. There will still be a market for cheap mass produced slop. Just like a large office building cares more about good unit economics on desk chairs than the artisanal nature of them, a lot of business focused work is probably going to tend more to the AI mass production. The knowledge work people choose to consume, Books, TV, Podcasts, Social Media – These will all benefit from a clear artisanal hand.

Of course Amish made products are still a thing, and near me there is even a local Blacksmiths guild, but we acknowledge these as peculiarities. People who haven's eschewed all technology, but rather frozen their craft in time for whatever reason. I'm sure we'll still see plenty of that when it comes to knowledge work but much like Amish made products they will represent a niche that most of the market is unconcerned with.

The Harms of AI

When we think of the Amish we think of people who have eschewed technology, but this is fundamentally not the case, they've simply eschewed modern technology. Of course what makes something modern is fairly relative. The quintessential Amish buggies would be considered futuristic if you brought them to Ancient Rome.

In software we see people eschew AI because it can't produce the same quality of work or care that a human can. However take a modern programming language and modern IDE back 50 years and the work a programmer is doing will seem downright magical. Why then are we to eschew AI and not also abandon modern IDEs, compilers, and higher order languages. Most opponents of AI will say that AI is different – Like the Amish their view is that, not all technology needs to be avoided, just the bad technology.

I don't mean to minimize the risks and harms that AI has, but I question if the market will bear them out. We're already at the place where you can run these models locally if you have the hardware to do so. I think in the next few years we'll see that local execution of models become the norm not the exception. Models where the weights are either open or for sale will get good enough for a lot of the work we're doing. Inference providers will need to compete on cost – which they will do by finding cheaper ways to run the models. This is a positive spiral, the arms race in models slows, the costs to run the models decreases, and we decentralize who benefits from those models.

Back when machination was taking over factories it would be unthinkable for someone to own half of the tools I have in my basement, and at first artisans needed to join together to form a collective and share these tools. Innovation and demand lowered the price and miniaturized these tools to the point were it's reasonable for a solo artisan to produce fine furniture in a home workshop. We've seen the same thing play forward for computers, and every other technology, to live in fear that AI will some how buck this trend feels wrong.

Appreciate the Artisans

Whatever your view on AI, I think we all need to take some time to appreciate when people put their heart and soul into something that they can be proud of. You don't need to like the process they used but we can acknowledge those who actually put care into things rather than people who just produce flimsy slop.

For people producing work, show the craft – build in public, be open about what tools you're using and what your process is. There will be hate, but ultimately I think as a society we will reward those of us who put out work that embodies our creative spirit.