One piece of English history which I was not taught in school is the history of the digger movement. The diggers were a proto-communist Christian-socialist political movement that aimed to retake stolen common land during the 17th century English civil war. The name “diggers” came from the movement’s attemps to grow crops, which were shared freely with anyone who contributed labour to their cultivation. The diggers were staunch pacifists who roamed the land trying to build their community. Unfortunately, this made them easy targets for royalist militias. The diggers were repeatedly beaten up, they were often killed, and their crops were pulled up and destroyed. From this, we should learn two lessons:
1. Common and equal work is an appealing and practical alternative to the systems we live in.
2. Pacifism can be exploited.
One of the leaders of the diggers movement was Gerrard Winstanley (1609-1676), who composed the now-traditional English folksong, “You noble diggers all”. More information about various versions of the song can be found here. My personal favourite version is that of Chumbawamba. I am also quite fond of the Horses of the Gods version.
At this point, you may wonder what on earth this has to do with mathematics and artificial intelligence. Well, in the true folk spirit, I have repurposed the lyrics of the diggers’ song to fit the position many of us now find ourselves in.
You noble eggheads all, stand up now, stand up now
You noble eggheads all, stand up now
The journals to maintain, seeing tech barons by name
Your maths does maintain, and persons all defame
Stand up now, stand up now
Your papers they pull down, stand up now, stand up now
Your papers they pull down, stand up now
Your papers they pull down to fright your friends in town
But the AI must come down, and the poor shall wear the crown
Stand up now, eggheads, all
With pens and chalk and board, stand up now, stand up now
With pens and chalk and board, stand up now
Your freedom to uphold, seeing tech barons are bold
To kill you if they could, and rights from you to hold
Stand up now, eggheads, all
The tech barons are all ‘round, stand up now, stand up now
The tech barons are all ‘round, stand up now
The tech barons are all ‘round, on each side they are found
Their AI’s so profound to cheat us of our ground
Stand up now, stand up now
The politicians conjoin, stand up now, stand up now
The politicians conjoin, stand up now
To dispose you they advise, such fury they devise
The lobbying in its size hath blinded both their eyes
Stand up now, stand up now
The press they come in, stand up now, stand up now
The press they come in, stand up now
The press they come in, say the AI will win
On evidence quite thin, they throw our careers to the bin
Stand up now, eggheads all
‘Gainst politicians and ‘gainst press, stand up now, stand up now
‘Gainst politicans and ‘gainst press, stand up now
For tyrants they are both, even flat against their oath
To grant us they are loathe, funding chalk and clothe
Stand up now, eggheads all
The club is all their law, stand up now, stand up now
The club is all their law, stand up now
The club is all their law, to keep all men in awe
But they no vision saw to maintain such a law
Stand up now, eggheads all
Some more songs to get you inspired.
Remember the goal of AI companies is to disenfranchise labour and
empower capital. We are the test case. Whilst this begins with us it
does not end with us. Write to your local politicians, write to your
national trade unions, sound the alarm. Only as a collective society we
can make it through this.
In solidarity,
Anonymous postdoc
Received 13 September 2026, revised 24 September 2026.
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