The Luddites were actually right: a story about wool.

Many people don't know this, but the Luddites were right. I studied Art History and I got to shadow curators at various museums, and one time it was a curator that specialized in textiles from the Middle Ages. I was able to feel wool scarves made in Europe from the Middle Ages. They were incredible: light, soft and thinner than any wool I had ever encountered before.

One of the claims of the Luddites is that quality would go down, because their craft took half a lifetime to master (it was passed down from parent to child.)

After experiencing first-hand, I started to think that they were right. The wool textiles they created are a fundamentally different product than what is produced today. A handmade (in the old tradition) woolen scarf can be pulled through a ring, because it is so thin and fine. Not so for a modern mill-made wool scarf. (Note: I’m not talking about silk, which can easily go through a ring. Think of a wool scarf.)

Another interesting thing is that we do not know how they made them so fine. The technique was never recorded or documented in detail, as it was really complicated and took so long to learn that the only way it was learned is by being passed down from parent to child. So the knowledge is actually lost forever.

Weavers in Kashmir create wool scarves of exceptional quality, but it is a different tradition; their wool is different, their needs and techniques are different, so while we still have craftsman that can produce wool by hand traditionally, the techniques of the Luddites are lost.

Is it a tragedy? Perhaps for Art Historians studying fiber arts. These heritage fabrics are phenomenal and luxurious. But also: great things came from the automation of textiles and automation in general. Literal lives were saved, access to wool was increased, and modern civilization was built on this automation.

I wanted to share this story because many don't know that the Luddite's claim was partly about quality, not just "automation is bad" (Although they were also mad about losing their jobs.)

Automation is never a 1:1 improvement. It's not just about the speed. Changing the process changes the product. I don't know where we will net out on software, and I do think the complaints are justified - but the Luddites were also justified. They were right. Their whole argument was that the mills could not produce fabric of the same quality. But being right is not enough.

I'm already seeing vibe-coded internal tools saving employees hundreds of hours a month, because a non-technical person was empowered to build their own solution. These vibe coded tools are worse than spaghetti-code, but they are effective. They are succeeding. And they are fundamentally different products than what internal tools were 10 years ago. Just like wool scarves from the middle ages in Europe are not like any wool scarves you can buy today.

The process changes the product.

It would serve us all better if we remembered the Luddites for this insight.