A brief history of techno-negativity From the techne pessimists of Ancient Greece to the computer firebombers of the Information Age, here's a look at the long—and fruitful—legacy of refusing the machine.

From the techné pessimists of Ancient Greece to the computer to the loom-breaking Luddites to the firebombers of the Information Age, here's a look at the long—and fruitful—legacy of refusing the machine.

By @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social, for BITM:

Q&A with Sarah Sharma, Author of Insufferable Tools Sarah Sharma is Professor of Media Theory and Director of the Institute for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology at the University of Toronto. She is author of In the Meantime: Tempor…

"The techno-feminist concern is not a matter of inclusion but in cultivating the temporalities, spatialities, etc that are incompatible with one’s utility within the normative family, the workplace, and the marketplace. Alexa must be refused, not repaired."

dukeupress.wordpress.com/2026/04/16/q...

Insufferable Tools: Feminism Against Big Tech

Sharma's forthcoming book is a banger Luddite treatise www.dukeupress.edu/insufferable...

The Age-Old Urge to Destroy Technology Our hatred of social media or of artificial intelligence is not some novel phenomenon, the new book “Techno-Negative” reminds us; it’s a feeling that has existed in some form across millennia.

The new book “Techno-Negative” reminds us that resistance to new inventions has existed in some form across millennia. www.newyorker.com/culture/infi...

Rather excited to see my book reviewed in the @newyorker.com by the excellent @chaykak.bsky.social.

"Dekeyser offers a tidy manifesto that may urge us on: “There is insufficient hatred for this technological world.” I could get a tattoo of that line, or at least use it as my iPhone background."

Why Some Young People Are Ditching Their Smartphones for Dumbphones, Flip Phones (Gift Article) What happens when a growing cohort of young people decide to ditch their devices?

Thomas Dekeyser @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social in the NY Times on resistance to technology
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

One day to go, apply now! Link: www.qmul.ac.uk/arts/researc...

@jirianger.bsky.social @drdanobrien.bsky.social @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social

The Introduction to TECHNO-NEGATIVE has been published here. The book opens with an account of arson attacks on fibre-optic cables in Berlin, and then goes on to set up the book's key claims.

Me a month ago: I need to read up on historical reactions to emerging computer technologies.

@uminnpress.bsky.social: We gotchu, bestie.

(Published today: Techno-Negative by Thomas Dekeyser)

Damn, they're becoming harder and harder to distinguish from actual outdoor advertising workers

Louise Erdrich, Han Kang, David Streitfeld, and more: 20 new books out today! Officially: it is spring. Does that mean we can finally put our winter coats and scarves away? Time will tell. Until then, until we know for sure the snow has gone for good, let’s just count …

"A brilliant and brave book that brings to the fore the brute refusal that haunts the history of technology.” @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social 's TECHNO-NEGATIVE out today! & included in this amazing @literaryhub.bsky.social roundup: lithub.com/louise-erdic...

the most urgent book we all need right now

Resistance against machines is shaped by class and the violence of the archive itself. Our book of the week traces arcs from Luddite loom-burners to French arsonists, viewing techno-negativity as both revolt and refusal.

By @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social on @uminnpress.bsky.social

buff.ly/MLjXabq

“Technophobe!” A Short History of An Insult On May 13th 1985, a Police Department helicopter hovering above 6221 Osage Avenue in West Philadelphia made history: it dropped 11/4-pound blocks of C-4 explosives, making it the first time a U.S. …

To mark today's release of my book 'Techno-Negative', I have a new piece out in @literaryhub.bsky.social. I trace a short history of the insult 'techno-phobe' to reveal its frail grounds, and how it is often the techno-rationalists who most forcefully succumb to phobia.

lithub.com/technophobe-...

To mark today's release of my book 'Techno-Negative', I have a new piece out in @literaryhub.bsky.social. I trace a short history of the insult 'techno-phobe' to reveal its frail grounds, and how it is often the techno-rationalists who most forcefully succumb to phobia.

lithub.com/technophobe-...

Techno-Negative A radical history of technology told through acts of resistance, not progressThe history of technology is often told as a history of progress, moving optimis...

To buy TECHNO-NEGATIVE with a 30% discount today:

- US code via Minnesota's website: MN94330 z.umn.edu/17739
- Europe, Asia, Africa code via MNG: MNMNGS26 mngbookshop.co.uk/978151791773...

Officially released today!💥Techno-Negative: A Long History of Refusing the Machine💥

Tracing the refusal that haunts the history of tech, my book offers a source of inspiration for those looking for a new tech politics beyond reform/acceleration.
www.upress.umn.edu/978151791773...
Buy w/ discount👇

Why refusing AI is a fight for the soul Author Thomas Dekeyser explains why modern resistance to Big Tech is a deeply sane response to a narrow vision of humanity.

Author Thomas Dekeyser explains why modern resistance to Big Tech is a deeply sane response to a narrow vision of humanity restofworld.org/2026/techno-negative-tho...

Teaching Fellow in Human Geography at University of Southampton Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Teaching Fellow in Human Geography on jobs.ac.uk!

Job opportunity: Teaching Fellow in Human Geography, University of Southampton. Please share.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQW415/t...

I have a short Chapter out on why cultural geographers need to take the premise of abolitionism seriously, part of the wonderful new 'Handbook of Cultural Geographies' by @ajsecor.bsky.social P Merriman ans S Sumartojo.

Message me for scans of the chapter. www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

New paper on ‘detachment’ as (non)relation, which is partly an intervention into debates around relations/relationality, and partly the latest in a series on attachment-detachment. In Progress in Human Geography

journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

Next week, 26th Feb, I am giving a lecture discussing my forthcoming book at Goldsmiths University, as part of their Visual Cultures programme. 5-7PM. Details at www.instagram.com/p/DUtQULJl63...

The UK universities cutting geography have lost their bearings From climate change to geopolitics, the knowledge, skills and insights of geographers have never been more relevant, say five professors

important commentary!!!

www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/uk-u...

The poetics of knowledge in the Anthropocene: Rancière and the politics of posthuman knowledge - Ben Bowsher, 2026 This paper responds to debates over the politics of knowledge in the Anthropocene, which often centres on affirmational and negative approaches to posthuman the...

Posting my article again in hopes of finding you! Dear reader who is interested in posthuman theories and radical politics!

If this isn’t ‘you’, please share until I find the right ‘you’.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

We've put together a 'call for papers' for the 2026 RGS-IBG Conference in London (1 - 4 September). The theme: *pessimist geographies*. Get in touch if you have any questions.

www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-j...

A second blurb has rolled in by another favourite thinker of mine.

Pre-order the book here: www.upress.umn.edu/978151791773...

So much careful thought on tech refusal crammed into two days. Thanks for the invite and the wonderful organisation @danishanley.bsky.social @judithcampagne.bsky.social @floralysen.bsky.social et al

Thanks so much for the invite! Really enjoyed the conversation.

Got to present the book in full for the first time yesterday at the 'Technological Life Research Cluster' (@oxfordgeography.bsky.social). Big thank you to @atmosphericthings.bsky.social and attendees for the wonderful questions and comments.

Techno-Negative A radical history of technology told through acts of resistance, not progressThe history of technology is often told as a history of progress, moving optimis...

I pre-ordered this book "Techno-Negative: A Long History of Refusing the Machine" and am looking forward to it. I don't know the author's work but I am very interested in the topic. Seems very timely. www.upress.umn.edu/978151791773...