5 ms·

That was very bad for the weavers. Well earning middle class jobs were replaced by toiling in the mills, It then took a few generations for the work act to put

by veqq 4y ago

That was very bad for the weavers. Well earning middle class jobs were replaced by toiling in the mills, It then took a few generations for the work act to put a 10hr maximum workday etc. The luddites were trying to defend their livelihoods, communities etc. It's the same rational thing people are looking at now: How to survive

WalterBright 4y ago
Consider how expensive textiles were before weaving machines. People wore their one set of clothes until they disintegrated. Fast forward to today. I received a solicitation for a charity in the mail the other day. They enclosed pictures of the poor kids. The kids were all wearing fashionable, spotless clothes in perfect condition. That's what industrial textile machines gave us.
- pixl97 4y ago
  And the luddites still starved to death in the street... tell me exactly what we're doing, especially in the US, to avoid the luddites 2.0?
  - nickpp 4y ago
    They did?! I thought they just had to learn and adapt doing something else eventually during a transition which was not very fast while also enjoying the new, better and cheaper products available to all. Any source for those starvation deaths? I would like to learn more about what prevented them from simply doing what the survivors did.
    - WalterBright 4y ago
      I never heard they starved, either. In fact, average life expectancy increased in this period.
- alexvoda 4y ago
  And weaving machines have not fully trickled down to citizens. You can not easily buy a weaving machine (there are some second hand ones) or easily go to your local maker space and use the weaving machine to create the design you desire. Open source in the space of textile making is in its infancy even though there are some projects. I bet it is easier to get a low volume tape-out of some custom chips than it is to get a custom roll of textile. (you can get printing but that's not the same thing) Textiles have become way cheaper and both higher quality (when demanded) and lower quality (cost saving fast fashion) and available in far higher quantities. Some things were lost in this transition.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    A basic loom isn't hard to make, any semi-competent carpenter could make one. That's what people did before weaving machines. I've seen people use them to make rugs and things for sale in gift shops. There's nothing stopping you from doing this.
    - alexvoda 4y ago
      That medieval era technology can still be manufactured at an individual scale was not my point. My point was that access to the technological advancement has not trickled down and that this creates an imbalance of power. Compare how easy it is to get a custom textile (not a custom print) made to how easy it is to get a custom PCB made (it is reasonably easy to etch a double sided board and multi-layer and flexible ones can easily be ordered online). The situation with regards to knitting is somewhat better. Saying that a "a basic loom isn't hard to make" in a world of high speed air jet digital looms is equivalent to saying that perf-board still exists in a world of SMD components.

by veqq 4y ago

WalterBright 4y ago

Consider how expensive textiles were before weaving machines. People wore their one set of clothes until they disintegrated. Fast forward to today. I received a solicitation for a charity in the mail the other day. They enclosed pictures of the poor kids. The kids were all wearing fashionable, spotless clothes in perfect condition. That's what industrial textile machines gave us.

pixl97 4y ago
And the luddites still starved to death in the street... tell me exactly what we're doing, especially in the US, to avoid the luddites 2.0?
- nickpp 4y ago
  They did?! I thought they just had to learn and adapt doing something else eventually during a transition which was not very fast while also enjoying the new, better and cheaper products available to all. Any source for those starvation deaths? I would like to learn more about what prevented them from simply doing what the survivors did.
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    I never heard they starved, either. In fact, average life expectancy increased in this period.
alexvoda 4y ago
And weaving machines have not fully trickled down to citizens. You can not easily buy a weaving machine (there are some second hand ones) or easily go to your local maker space and use the weaving machine to create the design you desire. Open source in the space of textile making is in its infancy even though there are some projects. I bet it is easier to get a low volume tape-out of some custom chips than it is to get a custom roll of textile. (you can get printing but that's not the same thing) Textiles have become way cheaper and both higher quality (when demanded) and lower quality (cost saving fast fashion) and available in far higher quantities. Some things were lost in this transition.
- WalterBright 4y ago
  A basic loom isn't hard to make, any semi-competent carpenter could make one. That's what people did before weaving machines. I've seen people use them to make rugs and things for sale in gift shops. There's nothing stopping you from doing this.
  - alexvoda 4y ago
    That medieval era technology can still be manufactured at an individual scale was not my point. My point was that access to the technological advancement has not trickled down and that this creates an imbalance of power. Compare how easy it is to get a custom textile (not a custom print) made to how easy it is to get a custom PCB made (it is reasonably easy to etch a double sided board and multi-layer and flexible ones can easily be ordered online). The situation with regards to knitting is somewhat better. Saying that a "a basic loom isn't hard to make" in a world of high speed air jet digital looms is equivalent to saying that perf-board still exists in a world of SMD components.