It's not technophobia, derision of its potential, a rejection of progress or in anyway related to the idea of surgery.
First a few bits of groundwork. In short, machine learning is the study and implementation of software algorithms that improve automatically through experience. An algorithm in this instance being a programmatic means of solving a problem and is also referred to as a model.
The critical thinking skills that make a good hacker has are the only means by which we will conqueror many of the major issues our species and planet faces over the next few years, decades and centuries. From misinformation, to climate change and surveillance capitalism, we need an army of people asking how and why, rather than blindly accepting the answer dancing in the void.