I was asked what I thought of a particular piece of writing on LinkedIn. This was my response.
Luddites breaking mechanised spinning looms back in the early 1800s.
To the Editor,
I write as a concerned weaver, watching with weary eyes the relentless clatter of these so-called “spinning looms” that some insist will soon make skilled hands obsolete. Allow me to burst this enduring myth: these machines will not replace human labour any time soon, no matter how loudly the factory owners trumpet their arrival.
Aren’t you sick and tired of being spun? We are fed tales so full of hot air and empty promises that one wonders if the true craft being practised is deception itself. These contraptions, hailed as wonders of industry, remain stubbornly flawed. They do not spin thread finer than a patient mother’s touch, nor weave cloth with the care and precision of a seasoned artisan. Instead, they stumble, break, and falter more often than they succeed. Hardly the picture of seamless progress.
Far from being self-sufficient marvels, these machines require constant human oversight. Factory overseers must stand watch, correcting errors and coaxing order from chaos. A machine left to its own devices is little more than a jumble of tangled threads and broken gears. A noisy distraction rather than a solution.
Where is the proof of these promised riches? The ledgers I see tell a far less rosy story, one of displaced craftsmen, diminished livelihoods, and a craft abandoned. The dignified art passed down through generations is discarded for hastily made cloth, lacking character and care.
The stories that flood factory floors and drawing rooms alike are spun by those with vested interests. These tales fatten their purses, not ours, cloaking ambition in the language of inevitable progress. Progress, yes, but for whom?
There is no ROI proof for this “progress.” If these machines truly replaced skilled labour and improved outcomes, surely the gains would be plain to see. Instead, we find hollow claims and a growing number of broken spirits. Aren’t you tired of the hype masquerading as reality?
Beware the shining promises of mechanisation. These machines demand fuel and repair, endless supervision, and often leave behind broken communities. To place blind faith in their perfection is to be spun around like wool on their spindles, dizzy, disoriented, and ultimately discarded.
No machine, however wondrous, can yet rival the skill, care, and dignity of human craftsmanship. Let us not be swept away by hype masquerading as progress. In the din of these looms, I hear not the future, but the fading heartbeat of a noble craft.
Yours,
A Watchful Weaver
P.S. This letter, though set in the age of the spinning loom, is a mirror to today’s debates on AI. The machines may change, but the spin and those who profit from it remain remarkably the same.
