These rebels, among others, are the stars of “Techno-Negative,” a new book from the University of Minnesota Press by Thomas Dekeyser. It’s a bit of a dense read—Dekeyser is a geography professor at Southampton, so you can expect some academic weight—but it fundamentally explores the history of people refusing the tech we’re all supposed to just accept. He argues that the “techno-negative” mindset is essentially a longing for the dismantling of the systems currently holding us up. Or keeping us down? Either way, the feeling of wanting to set a server rack on fire is pretty relatable lately.
The book breaks down into three buckets: sovereignty, revolt, and withdrawal. It’s not exactly a how-to guide for burning down data centers, though. Instead, it tracks state policy and individual sabotage through the lens of “techno-abolitionism,” which basically aims to strip away the idea that technological progress is some kind of destiny we can’t control. There’s a line in the conclusion that hit me: “There is insufficient hatred for this technological world.” I’ve actually thought about making that my lock screen. Maybe.
Historically, we used to be way more suspicious of tools. The ancient Greeks, for instance, were genuinely wary of *technē*—their word for skilled craft or engineering. Dekeyser notes they thought it brought something sinister into the world. They didn’t have robots, sure, but they also had a different view on the sanctity of human beauty. The medieval Church wasn’t much better, essentially linking tech to the devil. It’s funny, the Church feared a Pope using magic to build a talking statue head—now we just have ChatGPT. Same anxiety, different interface.
But once we hit industrial capitalism, the vibe shifted. Technology became a tool for the state, and suddenly, machines got more legal protections than actual people. Remember when you could get a hand cut off in 17th-century Vienna just for messing with street lanterns? Brutal, but it shows how quickly we shifted from fearing tech to enshrining it. It makes you wonder if our current obsession with AI is just another loop in this long, messy history of trying to define what makes us human versus, well, just another gear in the machine.
There’s a specific kind of solace in realizing this hatred isn’t new. It’s a feeling that’s been around for millennia. The book isn’t always easy—the theory-heavy parts can feel a bit like wading through mud—but it traces a lineage that makes modern resistance feel slightly less lonely. Even if the Luddites technically ‘lost,’ there’s something to be said for the impulse. Maybe the Greeks had the right idea keeping the machines at bay, or maybe we just never learned how to live with the fire we keep building.
Anyway, it’s a history of tragedy, mostly. Acts of rebellion that flare up and then fade. It doesn’t solve the problem, but it frames it differently—which is, perhaps, enough for now.