Hundreds gathered in Tompkins Square Park this week for the Summer of Ludd, a festival of talks and activities aimed at reducing reliance on Big Tech.
The weeklong series runs through July 5 in New York City’s East Village. Activities include a play on the original Luddite movement, workshops on offline dating and mending, and sessions on resisting data centers. Organizers banned phones, recording, and photos at all events.
The festival was planned since January by an anonymous group that uses a puppet spokesperson named Gowanus. Events are promoted only through posters and printed booklets. A beach cookout took place on July 4, and a New School conference examined AI in military contexts.
Attendees and speakers described personal efforts to limit social media and build alternative community spaces. A former Big Tech employee cited security risks from AI coding tools, while others highlighted the challenge of staying connected without dominant platforms.
Professor Andrew Maynard noted the original Luddites focused on labor issues, but he views the current movement as a push for greater personal autonomy from technology.
