John Henry vs AI

Or how I learned to embrace technology

John Henry was an American Folk hero, a man who spent his days working on the railroad as a steel driver. His legend was born around the end of the 19th century, during the heart of the Second Industrial Revolution. New technology was being created at an unprecedented pace, and steam and electric power were allowing industrialization to change every facet of society. John Henry would come face to face with these new machines and the changes they brought. John Henry responded to those changes; according to legend to prove his might John Henry challenged a steam-powered rock-drilling machine to a race… and won. For his victory, he was immortalized, his story recorded in ballads so old the songwriter’s identity has been lost to time.

When they invented that old steam drill
They thought that they had ’em somethin’ fine
John Henry sank her fourteen feet
Steam drill only made her nine, Lord Lord
Steam drill only made her nine

On the surface, the Legend of John Henry seems nothing more than a fun tale about a man so strong he could best a steam-powered engine, but it’s not that simple. At its core, John Henry’s story is a 19th-century formulation of the archetypal theme of man vs machine. It’s the story of resistance to technological change and the fear of being replaced. John Henry lived during a time when technology was reshaping every aspect of life in America; so opposition to these changes naturally sprang up not only in America but across the Atlantic as well.

In England, new technology was met with violence. The Luddites are famous for destroying textile machines in the early part of the 19th century. The group was made up of individuals that felt displaced by this new technology, many of whom were factory owners who could not compete with the low prices produced by the new machine mills. They were the casualties of new tech, men, and women displaced and lashing out. The Luddites eventually engaged in a full-fledged revolt that required military intervention. and in the end, their violent opposition to technological change was crushed and did little to slow industrialization.

John Henry’s story ends in a similar fashion. His triumph against the steam engine is a pyrrhic victory. After besting the machine Henry collapses from exhaustion and dies. Neither his victory nor his death matter, the machine marches on.

Both John Henry and the Luddites are reactions to a rapidly changing world. They display a fear of new technology. It is a fear particularly prevalent to those on the right; it’s only natural for individuals that fancy themselves paleo-conservative, monarchist, traditionalist, or reactionaries to be skeptical or even outright hostile to technological change. After all, it threatens to uproot and change everything we love. It may be tempting to make reference to the Butlerian Jihad or the armies of Mordor or to refer back to Industrial Society and its Future, but what benefit is there in rejecting technology?

If you choose violent opposition you end up like the Samurai. The Meiji Restoration threatened their way of life and in the face of this threat, they chose war. Five hundred Samurai stood against thirty thousand Imperial troops at Shiroyama; they fought with honor yet in the end they were crushed by the industrial might of the Imperial Japanese Army. No amount of tradition or adherence to the Bushido code would see the sword triumph over the rifle. They simply gave their enemies a monopoly on new technology and for that, they paid with their lives.

If you choose to stand and prove your might as John Henry did you will share his fate. You may not die but you won’t win in the long run; just ask Garry Kasparov how one victory over Deep Blue turned out. A temporary victory over the machine matters not. Technology will step over you and you will be washed away by the tide of “progress”.

This is not to say that we should embrace technology blindly, rather we should understand technology as a tool, and like any tool, its potential for abuse should be recognized. Transhumanism, AI, digital currency, etc. there are plenty of reasons to be wary of new technology, but we should be mindful of these threats and not turn away from tech wholeheartedly. It is not acceptance or rejection but discernment that will win the future.

In the end, John Henry’s story is a lesson in futility… the futility of rejecting new technology. It may be that an exercise in dialects is necessary to understand the proper synthesis between our natural world and the ever-advancing wave of technology. How we will integrate something like AI into our lives without losing our humanity is a challenge that is rapidly approaching.

What is certain is the time is coming when technology will render it so we will not be able to believe anything we see or hear. I for one do not look forward to that but I know that if we choose to reject that technology it will be turned against us and we will be left defenseless.

TJS-