AI (And History) Predicts A Bull Market

During a punishing economic climate and a time of war, technological change feels especially ominous. With careers and livelihoods jeopardized, whole industries on the brink of extinction, and inflation ravaging living standards, normal fiscal anxieties resist innovation—especially innovation that represents a sea-change in deeply embedded modes of work.

No, I’m not talking about artificial intelligence in 2023. I’m talking about automated textile equipment—and the rise of the Luddites who opposed it between 1811 and 1817. The Luddite movement began in Nottingham, England, and spread throughout the Isles. The Luddites were political activists who arose to coordinate public demonstrations and to destroy the “obnoxious machines” that imperiled their careers. The Napoleonic Wars had led to economic hardship and inflation, and steam-powered looms were threatening the jobs of workers in the cotton industry. Of course, “Luddite” has come to mean anyone who opposes novel technologies. But it’s only become a byword because this has happened so many times before.