Machines of loving grace

Did anyone see the Adam Curtis 3-part documentary: All watched over by machines of loving grace?

How majestic in style and painful in realisation!
There are no Randian heroes, there are no balanced eco-systems and computers are not an example for human order, but rather a catalyst for genocide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_of_Loving_Grace_(television_documentary_series)

There's a lot of information there. And I would certainly recommend getting hold of all three parts of the documentary.

I think it would be excellent discussion material for this forum.
For example:

"Curtis ends the piece by pointing out that not only had the idea of market stability failed to be borne out in practice, but that the Californian Ideology had also been unable to stabilise it; indeed the ideology has not led to people being Randian heroes but in fact trapped them into a rigid system of control from which they are unable to escape."

and:

"Adam Curtis closes the piece by stating that it has become apparent that while the self organising network is good at organising change, it is much less good at what comes next, networks leave people helpless in the face of people already in power in the world."

Curtis destroys anarchist societies.

Rand liked it in the pooper.

Originally posted by shavixmir
Did anyone see the Adam Curtis 3-part documentary: All watched over by machines of loving grace?

How majestic in style and painful in realisation!
There are no Randian heroes, there are no balanced eco-systems and computers are not an example for human order, but rather a catalyst for genocide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machin ...[text shortened]... next, networks leave people helpless in the face of people already in power in the world."

Indeed. I honestly think that Adam Curtis vindicates TV as a medium. Sure, he's a polemicist, but that ought not to be an insult, particularly when his theses are so original and well-presented.

Those who enjoy(ed) AWOBMOLG should try his other stuff: Century of the Self, The Trap: Whatever Happened to our Dream of Freedom and The Power of Nightmares probably form the core of his work (although Pandora's Box, amongst others, is also excellent). He also has an occassional blog on the BBC site.

I can't right now find the interview where he says that the best way to look at the overall sweep of his work is as looking at the influence of Nietzsche on the twentieth century, but for long-term fans it makes for an interesting prism through which to watch the films all over again. I rather hope he gets round to making another series more explicitly about that supposed thread through the disparate work.

Recommended.