All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
Is that a helluva title or what?
It's Adam Curtis' latest (2011) BBC documentary trilogy, which I watched this weekend. Like most of Curtis' work, it's about how a predicted Golden Age didn't turn out quite like everybody expected. In this case the computerized society...once predicted as a foolproof way to...er...rationalize markets. Among other things.
IOW, most of his work points out that the world, in many cases, could have used a lot more skepticism and critical thinking.
In Part One, Ayn Rand learns first-hand why Objectivism won't work. Much mention of her early disciple, Alan Greenspan and his effect on the economy. In Part Two we learn how that good old hippie term "holistic" was used to justify South African apartheid. Also why nature is not "in balance" and all Disneyish and harmonious and stuff.
Richard Dawkins and his selfish genes pop up in Part 3, plus why we are altruistic and why lots of people died in Africa to make sure we have affordable iPads.
As always, Curtis leaves you feeling like you've been clobbered upside the head with a fact-hammer. So much information comes so fast my slow-moving brain needs time to ponder it all.
If you have younger Carpet Sharks in the house, be warned that the series contains some very graphic video footage of riots and massacres.
Wikipedia has a good summary of all 3 episodes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_of_Loving_Grace_(television_documentary_series)
If you don't mind Spanish subtitles, you can watch all 3 episodes (almost 3 hours) here:
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/all-watched-over-by-machines-of-loving-grace/
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