What do you think?
Rate this book
Techno-Negative: A Long History of Refusing the Machine
A radical history of technology told through acts of resistance, not progress
The history of technology is often told as a history of progress, moving optimistically and inevitably from one emancipatory invention to the next. Techno-Negative turns this story on its head, taking us on a journey to the critical junctures where people have pointedly rejected and tried to undo, rather than adopt, new technologies. Beginning with Archimedes’s decision to destroy his own war machines, this book explores the will to negate technology as a deep—but persistently condemned—current in history.
As he presents a new theory of technological power, Thomas Dekeyser argues that technologies, never neutral, operate as “ontological policing,” drawing the boundaries of humanness as they are unequally leveraged by select groups. Looking beyond the Luddites to medieval monks banning tools, seventeenth-century loom burners, revolutionary lantern smashers, and computer arsonists, Dekeyser shows how people have long recognized and resisted the machine as a violent, sometimes deadly force implicated in defining who counts as human and whose lives (and ways of life) are worth saving.
Against the ubiquitous demands to reform or accelerate technological “advancement” that have failed to disrupt our present, Dekeyser proposes a spirited alternative: abolition. He challenges us to rethink the terms of our technological present and future. In a time when Big Tech grows increasingly enmeshed with authoritarian control, Techno-Negative is a conceptual declaration, and source of inspiration, for those searching for a new paradigm of technological politics.
The history of technology is often told as a history of progress, moving optimistically and inevitably from one emancipatory invention to the next. Techno-Negative turns this story on its head, taking us on a journey to the critical junctures where people have pointedly rejected and tried to undo, rather than adopt, new technologies. Beginning with Archimedes’s decision to destroy his own war machines, this book explores the will to negate technology as a deep—but persistently condemned—current in history.
As he presents a new theory of technological power, Thomas Dekeyser argues that technologies, never neutral, operate as “ontological policing,” drawing the boundaries of humanness as they are unequally leveraged by select groups. Looking beyond the Luddites to medieval monks banning tools, seventeenth-century loom burners, revolutionary lantern smashers, and computer arsonists, Dekeyser shows how people have long recognized and resisted the machine as a violent, sometimes deadly force implicated in defining who counts as human and whose lives (and ways of life) are worth saving.
Against the ubiquitous demands to reform or accelerate technological “advancement” that have failed to disrupt our present, Dekeyser proposes a spirited alternative: abolition. He challenges us to rethink the terms of our technological present and future. In a time when Big Tech grows increasingly enmeshed with authoritarian control, Techno-Negative is a conceptual declaration, and source of inspiration, for those searching for a new paradigm of technological politics.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published March 24, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.
A fairly extensive history of techno-negativity and the various philosophical and religious influences on various techno-negative communities, this book introduced the relationship between the human and the machine from a different angle than what I have previously seen, showing that it is not a history of "progress" from no technology to more technology to even more technology, and that there have at all times been communities resisting the machine for various reasons.
While there is a chapter dedicated to anticolonialist perspectives, and while the history of the machine as a tool of colonisation and ontological murder is detailed, this book does rely heavily on Western philosophy and history in its recounting and analysis of the history of techno-negativity, which is one point I would criticise, though I am not sure if this might simply be due to a lack of available sources (in English?). However, I would have been very interested in the history of techno-negativity in China, Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and various others empires which are frequently praised as "technologically advanced".
Also, I'm sorry but the author lost some Serious Points whenever he went into psychoanalysis. I simply cannot take you seriously when you completely calmly discuss how fire is a penis, and how people are phobic of the machine because of sexual neuroses. I simply cannot take it seriously. That did not affect my rating though - the above-mentioned point on the very Western perspectives shared in this book is what cost it its final star.
A fairly extensive history of techno-negativity and the various philosophical and religious influences on various techno-negative communities, this book introduced the relationship between the human and the machine from a different angle than what I have previously seen, showing that it is not a history of "progress" from no technology to more technology to even more technology, and that there have at all times been communities resisting the machine for various reasons.
While there is a chapter dedicated to anticolonialist perspectives, and while the history of the machine as a tool of colonisation and ontological murder is detailed, this book does rely heavily on Western philosophy and history in its recounting and analysis of the history of techno-negativity, which is one point I would criticise, though I am not sure if this might simply be due to a lack of available sources (in English?). However, I would have been very interested in the history of techno-negativity in China, Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and various others empires which are frequently praised as "technologically advanced".
Also, I'm sorry but the author lost some Serious Points whenever he went into psychoanalysis. I simply cannot take you seriously when you completely calmly discuss how fire is a penis, and how people are phobic of the machine because of sexual neuroses. I simply cannot take it seriously. That did not affect my rating though - the above-mentioned point on the very Western perspectives shared in this book is what cost it its final star.
March 25, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and the University of Minnesota Press for providing this book as an eARC. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This book is a revelation and truly feels timely. Dekeyser crafts a narrative that blends philosophy, history, sociology and geography to give a look at the relationship that people and their environments have with machines. This book is rich with explorations of colonialism, labour, technology and morality and provides the language to explain what it feels like to experience technology. This book also challenges the assumptions that we often make about technological adoption and its inevitability, and why we should challenge those perceptions. This book is perfect for people who enjoy narrative fiction, anyone who has ever lamented the proliferation of technology and anyone who has ever been taught to think about technology in the language of progress. It is truly a great read, whether you are looking to learn something new or gain the language that allows you to think about technology in a more considered way.
This book is a revelation and truly feels timely. Dekeyser crafts a narrative that blends philosophy, history, sociology and geography to give a look at the relationship that people and their environments have with machines. This book is rich with explorations of colonialism, labour, technology and morality and provides the language to explain what it feels like to experience technology. This book also challenges the assumptions that we often make about technological adoption and its inevitability, and why we should challenge those perceptions. This book is perfect for people who enjoy narrative fiction, anyone who has ever lamented the proliferation of technology and anyone who has ever been taught to think about technology in the language of progress. It is truly a great read, whether you are looking to learn something new or gain the language that allows you to think about technology in a more considered way.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews