LOVE this piece and very much appreciate the rehabilitation of the Luddite reputation, however I do see a complication that should be resolved. It involves this line:

"These new machines could have allowed the existing workforce to produce far more cloth, in far fewer hours, at a much lower price, while still paying these workers well." The greatly intensified production of cloth or of anything really, would STILL contribute to global slavery and possibly enclosure. Furthermore, the large increase in production is a fundamentally troubled proposition, no matter who takes charge of the means of production, since it contributes so obviously to the destruction of the environment we live in.