RE: [FT universe]

At 03:58 PM 9/17/98 -0700, you wrote:

>You mean eschew, Luddites that espouse technology would be very
schitzoid
>indeed. I figure any luddite colonists would be forced transportees...
>
> On 17 Sep 98, at 11:39, Tony Christney wrote:
>> 
>> > Luddites??? More likely they would be sent to prison than allowed
to
>> form
>> > their own colonies. Very different motivations than the other three
>> groups
>> > mentioned.
>> 
>> I thought Luddites espoused technology.... so their only option for 
>> interstellar travel would be a REALLY long ladder?
>> ;)

My understanding (admittedly I could be wrong) was that the Luddites, 
led by some bloke named Ludd, were men who made cloth from cotton and 
wool, in essence, weavers. With the start of the Industrial Revolution, 
they understood that they would soon be out of a job. So they went 
around smashing up mechanical looms, etc. So they weren't technophobes 
per se, just people trying to keep their jobs. Of course, the rich 
factory owners weren't too happy about their actions, and there was a 
law passed that made the crime punishable by death, which spelled the 
end of Mr. Ludd. AFAIK, the Luddites had much popular support from the 
"lower" classes (god I hate that term).

Given this, Luddites are more the type of people who are against
automating
jobs that were/are traditionally done by humans. Not exactly the case 
when it comes to space travel. Also, you wouldn't exactly call them 
marginalized or disenfranchised.

>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Richard Slattery		richard@mgkc.demon.co.uk
>> We English are good at forgiving our enemies; it releases us from the
>> obligation of liking our friends. 
>>	P.D. James
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> 

       Tony Christney
       acc@questercorp.com

  "If the end user has to worry about how the program was 
   written then there is something wrong with that program"
				  -Bjarne Stroustrup