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Adam Curtis made a fantastic documentary on the darker side of our relationship with technology. I don't agree with all of his points, but it's still a great wa

Adam Curtis made a fantastic documentary on the darker side of our relationship with technology. I don't agree with all of his points, but it's still a great watch. From Wikipedia: Curtis argues that computers have failed to liberate humanity, and instead have "distorted and simplified our view of the world around us". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_of_Loving_Grace_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Watched_Over_by_Machines_o...

eru 2y ago
Alas, that 'documentary' is long on insinuation and short on facts. As is typical of that auteur.
- dijksterhuis 2y ago
  yeah, but the soundtrack is brilliant. so… /s
  - eru 2y ago
    Oh, when viewed as works of art, they are quite interesting.
    - brunorsini 2y ago
      I agree. Curtis consistently makes films that are a lot more about opinion and interpretation than anything else. He is not bad with facts, but he does have a tendency to present the viewer with an avalanche of data points... only to later express what is basically his opinion, often not even directly linked to the facts that have just been presented. With that in mind, I still find his opinions interesting, original and provocative. Also, his films have some of the coolest imagery ever — if I recall correctly he used to work at the BBC, dealing with their archives.
djtango 2y ago
My main takeaway from that series was the anecdotes about the communes living in geodesic domes who operated under a hierarchy-less system but all of them allegedly imploded due to a common mechanism: In a community that has no explicit rules, implicit rules emerge. Power accumulates quietly to the people who know the rules and can bend them often. In those situations the powerless are even more vulnerable to the powerful because of the lack of an explicit power structure with rules that would usually require checks and balances in order for people to opt into the system.
- mjburgess 2y ago
  And how often do we hear a demand to 'direct' democracy, egalitarianism, the end of policing, and so on.. from those with a-little-to-much but clearly not-enough, power? There's rarely anything more in people's political prescriptions other than, "I do not have enough power, and I want more" -- and there's nothing inherently wrong with this demand. Only that when it is disguised by the false promise of power for everyone, it means power for almost no one.
  - soco 2y ago
    Now now, let's not forget that there are already direct democracies at work in the world ahemtzerland and the general inland consensus is that they work.
    - dbspin 2y ago
      Yes - and there are hundreds of thousands of small groups applying principles of direct democracy in practice, from democratic schools to consensus based art centres. People have been collectively organising movements and spaces for many decades now, and the processes are pretty well worked out. Comparing utopian dropouts in the 60's running farms on vibes to dedicated activists establishing and maintaining consensus based social contracts is disingenuous. There's plenty to be criticised in terms of the practical aspects of these systems - from implementation to scalability, and good luck to the folks doing the hard work of improving them. But dismissing them out of hand is an argument from ignorance.

eru 2y ago

Alas, that 'documentary' is long on insinuation and short on facts. As is typical of that auteur.

dijksterhuis 2y ago
yeah, but the soundtrack is brilliant. so… /s
- eru 2y ago
  Oh, when viewed as works of art, they are quite interesting.
  - brunorsini 2y ago
    I agree. Curtis consistently makes films that are a lot more about opinion and interpretation than anything else. He is not bad with facts, but he does have a tendency to present the viewer with an avalanche of data points... only to later express what is basically his opinion, often not even directly linked to the facts that have just been presented. With that in mind, I still find his opinions interesting, original and provocative. Also, his films have some of the coolest imagery ever — if I recall correctly he used to work at the BBC, dealing with their archives.

djtango 2y ago

My main takeaway from that series was the anecdotes about the communes living in geodesic domes who operated under a hierarchy-less system but all of them allegedly imploded due to a common mechanism: In a community that has no explicit rules, implicit rules emerge. Power accumulates quietly to the people who know the rules and can bend them often. In those situations the powerless are even more vulnerable to the powerful because of the lack of an explicit power structure with rules that would usually require checks and balances in order for people to opt into the system.

mjburgess 2y ago
And how often do we hear a demand to 'direct' democracy, egalitarianism, the end of policing, and so on.. from those with a-little-to-much but clearly not-enough, power? There's rarely anything more in people's political prescriptions other than, "I do not have enough power, and I want more" -- and there's nothing inherently wrong with this demand. Only that when it is disguised by the false promise of power for everyone, it means power for almost no one.
- soco 2y ago
  Now now, let's not forget that there are already direct democracies at work in the world ahemtzerland and the general inland consensus is that they work.
  - dbspin 2y ago
    Yes - and there are hundreds of thousands of small groups applying principles of direct democracy in practice, from democratic schools to consensus based art centres. People have been collectively organising movements and spaces for many decades now, and the processes are pretty well worked out. Comparing utopian dropouts in the 60's running farms on vibes to dedicated activists establishing and maintaining consensus based social contracts is disingenuous. There's plenty to be criticised in terms of the practical aspects of these systems - from implementation to scalability, and good luck to the folks doing the hard work of improving them. But dismissing them out of hand is an argument from ignorance.