FROM THE LUDDITE MOVEMENT TO THE AGE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE:

Abstract

Technological progress has long driven social change, but it has also generated fear and resistance. In England, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, one of the earliest organized reactions to technological transformation was the Luddite Movement of the early nineteenth century. The Luddites opposed mechanization because they believed it would cause unemployment and threaten traditional ways of life. Similar concerns have reappeared in debates surrounding artificial intelligence (AI), including fears of job displacement, surveillance, and changing human-machine relationships. While the Luddite Movement has been widely studied and AI-related concerns have been examined in technological and ethical discussions, studies connecting these issues through British science fiction literature remain limited. This paper examines the continuity of technological fears in England and their representation in British science fiction. Using a qualitative research design, it employs document analysis and thematic content analysis. The corpus consists of E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops", Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World", George Orwell's "1984", and Ian McEwan's "Machines Like Me". The findings reveal that technology is frequently portrayed as a source of threat rather than progress. In "The Machine Stops", dependence on technology leads to isolation. In "1984" and "Brave New World", technology functions as a tool of political and social control. Contemporary novels focus on artificial intelligence and its effects on human identity and relationships. The paper concludes that technological anxieties have persisted from the Luddite era to the age of AI, highlighting concerns about humanity's position in an increasingly technological world.