New Adam Curtis - All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

[merzbau]

Adam Curtis has just released an outstanding series of documentaries weaving a lucid and fascinating trail through the history of politics, science, philosophy, global economics and the internet - subjects which may interest more than a few of you.

Although they may not realise it, the way many people see everything in the world today is through the eyes of the computers. Not just politics and the economy -- but also in the way bodies, minds, and even the whole of the natural world are perceived.

The underlying argument is that people have given up a dynamic political model of the world -- the dream of changing things for the better -- for a static machine ideology that says everyone is a component in a system, and that the aim is to manage these systems and keep them stable.

From the utopian visions of the worldwide web to the idea of an interconnected global economic system, to the dream of balanced ecosystems, all these ideas share an underlying machine vision of organisation and order.

The series argues that by embracing this new machine ideology something very precious has been given up: the idea of progress and political struggle to change the world for the better.

Episode One - Love and Power
YouTube - ‪All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (Ep. 1) - Full‬‏

Episode Two - The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts
YouTube - ‪All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (Ep. 2) - Full‬‏

 

[Architect]

Interesting, I'm watching the videos and considering these ideas. First thing that comes to mind: is political struggle and ideology such a good thing as he says? Consider most political struggles - WWI/WWII in Europe, Stalin etc. Reminds me of a quote from Robert Heinlein, 'A revolutionary is just somebody who wants to chuck the people in power so he can put himself in power'.

Certainly there are counter examples to this such as the end of Apartheid, but I doubt whether political struggle and revolution is always a good thing. Also I'd counter that the 'machine view' as he calls it isn't about making things for the better. I'd say our modern technological society is far better than anything we've seen before.

 

[merzbau]

Interesting, I'm watching the videos and considering these ideas. First thing that comes to mind: is political struggle and ideology such a good thing as he says? Consider most political struggles - WWI/WWII in Europe, Stalin etc. Reminds me of a quote from Robert Heinlein, 'A revolutionary is just somebody who wants to chuck the people in power so he can put himself in power'.

glad you enjoyed them.
does he actually say that political struggle and ideology are good? i think he leaves it more to you to decide.

Certainly there are counter examples to this such as the end of Apartheid, but I doubt whether political struggle and revolution is always a good thing. Also I'd counter that the 'machine view' as he calls it isn't about making things for the better. I'd say our modern technological society is far better than anything we've seen before.

with advanced technology comes great power, and with that power comes the need for responsibility. you could claim that modern society is far better than previous civilisations, but if we misuse our technology, the consequences are greater - the damage more irreversible.

 

[merzbau]

Episode Three - The Monkey in the Machine and the Machine in the Monkey
YouTube - ‪All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (Ep. 3) - Full‬‏

Adam Curtis Interview (May 20, 2011)
YouTube - ‪Adam Curtis Interview (May 20, 2011)‬‏

 

[Jordan~]

I love Adam Curtis. I love him and I love him and I love him. Every single time he makes something I come away from it with new insights, my mind's working overtime considering the implications of his arguments, weighing up their merits, answering any challenges he posed to my beliefs. And his blog is brilliant too. I would give everything I owned to Adam Curtis.
And thank you for posting that interview, it's very interesting.

 

[Jordan~]

Ben Goldacre pointed something out: Apparently, the first 38 minutes are about ideologues, and at the start of the 39th minute he says, "But they were wrong." I've not checked to see if that's true of all of his documentaries, but if it is, it's awesome.

 

[travelnjones]

Here are my blog posts on his latest series. While I am certainly a fan, I think this was a weaker work for him than "The Trap" or "Century of Self". He doesn't ever end you with a summarizing conclusion that he hits you over the head with, but this on it was more vague. He sort of seems to get at the idea that people feel free to pursue more material and temporal rewards if the view themselves as machines. Living for the hear and now rather than looking beyond. sort of a control of mediocrity. But those are my words and thoughts.



http://crescentstar.blogspot.com/2011/08/machines-of-loving-grace.html

http://crescentstar.blogspot.com/2011/12/monkey-gone-to-heaven.html