The problem was that new machinery was taking away their jobs as skilled artisans. If machines could automate their skills, they might lose their livelihoods and place in society. Many workers reject technology because of laziness, incomprehension or sheer cantankerousness. Few however express their feelings about technology in acts of destructive violence that signify true Luddism. Today, technology is more likely to spread the ideas of militant activists rather than be smashed up by them.
History reveals that the Luddite tendency has always existed in one form or another.
The use of iron ploughs was blamed for failed crops. Circumcision with an iron knife was forbidden in many cultures. Whether or not ancient flint craftsmen fearing for their monopoly of sharp objects started this taboo, history does not relate. More recently, in the mid-nineteenth century, the invention of steamships spurred new developments in sailing ships. Clipper ships, such as the Cutty Sark, were the fastest sailing craft ever produced and for a while they were able to compete with their lumbering, smoke-belching cousins.