To elaborate a bit: before the Haber process there were 1 billion people, and they were shipping bat guano from Chile to Europe to prevent hunger. After the Hab

To elaborate a bit: before the Haber process there were 1 billion people, and they were shipping bat guano from Chile to Europe to prevent hunger. After the Haber process, the population went from 1 billion to 7 billion in less than 100 years, but everyone was in preexisting cities which required heating and stuff. Fossil fuels and nuclear power are unsavory but they can't be halted without catastrophic repercussions, people freezing and going hungry and unemployed. A world which works without those technologies is not a feasible option for most people, in much the same way as the population explosion almost eradicated subsistence living. I think the most important thing about the Luddites is they're a reminder that a certain portion of the population in an industrial revolution sees the fruits of the new technologies, but is also experiencing a literally-unbearable negative impact from those same technologies. Which society holds the other hostage is a matter of perspective entirely.