Adam Curtis Interview, 20 May 2011

[@3LARI]

The ideas presented in the Zeitgeist films are facile. I strongly implore you to move swiftly on if you're still under the spell of those films. Adam Curtis' films are so much more realistic and fascinating.

[@JamesGrady2]

very beautiful films

[@retter2critical]

This really is a great series. If you havent seen it and are interested in watching docos, get your hands on it.

[@uranrising]

Thank you very much littleatoms for posting the interview for the benefit of those outside the reach of your transmissions; even if I don't fully share your espousal of rationalist views. Greetings from East Anglia.

[@scottandkarl]

Awesome interview!

[@akirasdog]

very interesting thankyou

[@chronotriggerfan]

@boogyshoes20 I agree! He managed to connect such seemingly isolated stories to tell an incredibly complete tale of a country ravaged by Western influence. The best part of Part 3 is that, even more than his past films, you'll find messages you missed in images and in that rockin' soundtrack after multiple viewings.

[@AudioPervert1]

Adam Curtis. great work. equals peoples effort .. like Noam Chomsky & Chris Hedges & Gren Greenwald...

[@simongarrettmusic]

curtis is spot-on

[@scolic03]

@Bearmoth1 but that is exactly the greatest thing about his videos - he offers no alternative, no clean and easy ideology instead. also he doesn't judge these ideas harshly but just explains how they came to be and what is their origin, and their implications. That is, in this series on political ecology. Same with the part on Objectivism, and its economic and political implications. Same with the Monkey in the Machine.

[@Lupocide]

I only wish everyone was allowed free use of all that BBC archive footage they paid for with their TV licences.

[@1dJHorY1]

+Tom Jones That would be bliss... You can go and watch them, but to use any kind of footage, If I remember right it's about £30/minute or some other outrageous sum per minute. Been with class recently and inquired.

[@SSCFPA]

While I always find Adam's films fascinating, thought provoking, often funny and part 3 of Machines Of Loving Grace was a tour de force, the same applied to PT.3 of 'The Trap', 'We Will Force You To Be Free' too. Superb. Pretty much true of the 3rd one of 'The Power of Nightmares'. His themes in these series sort of converge the finales that have a unique power.

[@highway234]

i would be really curious to know what curtis thought of a german doc from 2003 called "the net" by lutz dammbeck. he covers a lot of the same ground about the 60s counterculture etc., though quite a bit less politely.

[@doonray]

I find it sad that All Watched Over got such bad rap compared to AC's other films. I think most just didn't understand what it was really about and listening to this interview would probably have helped a great deal! What's most fascinating for me is that central idea that in the modern world we see ourselves solely through the eyes of computers. This builds on AC's previous ideas from 'The Trap' about the excessive use of data and metrics in the modern world and I think this is truly one of the greatest problems we face today.

[@doonray]

+Ben Swanwick I think that's really what his work is about though. He engages you with a collection of interesting ideas through the form of a narrative and gets you thinking. Then if you are suitably interested you can go off and explore these and other ideas your self. I suppose that's his job as a journalist. Here's a direct quote from the man himself: "I have this theory that you can take very complicated ideas, which are at the root of our present world, simplify them, make them entertaining and funny, yet still keep the essence of what they’re saying. That’s the fundamental thing I believe in. And I loathe the opposite view that you can’t do this without being complicated and obscure and talking as though to only a small, elite group."

[@cordial]

did it get a bad rap? I thought it was one of his best series.

[@JohnMoseley]

Somebody please put Curtis in a room with Zizek for a talk about our 'post-ideological era'. And give me a ticket.

[@otacon451]

a lot of what he is discussing is 'ad hoc networking' which like most things has a great wikipedia article. love the bit where he is saying that self-organization, ad hoc can't be proper counter-power in these times.

[@vonkruel]

We are machines, but very complex ones. The biological context for our existence is that we're basically vehicles for propagating our genetic codes. However, we also are machines that want to be well (we don't want to suffer). The question is simply asked: what kind of organization can best promote wellness? I think a system that doesn't elect anyone into positions of power can work, but there need to be guiding principles behind it. The web is only a platform & we must build on top of it.

[@Phi1point62]

@SSCFPA I suggest you read "Gold and Economic Freedom", an article Alan Greenspan wrote in the 1960's for Rand's "Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal". Greenspan's actions in the 1990's and 2000's were the opposite of what he wrote in that article and had he followed his own advice then the world's economy wouldn't be in the mess it is now. The current monetary system is also the opposite of what Rand's philosophy supports. As for the actions of the bankers Rand's ethics condemns their actions.

[@mcdougalla]

@ecolabs1 I don't think the films are disappointing. The films are quite distinctive from each other but crystalise around the issue of power and systems. I don't think the main theory central to the films relies too much on ecology - his main thrust his linking the notion of feedback and people in terms of self-organising systems. The analysis of ecology is a little limited because it is a vehicle for the main thesis and not a study in itself. V different from his other films though.

[@MrDoremouse]

I loved this series. I wonder what Adam Curtis thinks of the anti-heirarchy, libertarian left? (Anarcho-syndicalism,etc..) I say that because of his criticisms of the hippies and the communes. The left is absolutely beaten in Britain (socialism is a word you no longer hear from the front bench of the Labour Party).

[@StephenDeagle]

I'd be amazed to find out if Curtis hasn't read any of Zizek's work. Some of their ideas overlap really profoundly.

[@uranrising]

@MrDoremouse In the interview, Curtis says the Left has failed to produce an alternative to what we have.

[@mikele-baigue8155]

Veey articulate

[@andrewwelch5]

some truth in that I think.

[@Someclone]

@uranrising i don't agree with this view, but i still think adam curtis is a cool girl

[@telebob]

How did he miss talking about Norbert Weiner?

[@ama-tu-an-ki]

@deparvius True. Yet, he's commenting on the hidden assumptions of homestasis, which is rampant in our society, esp. in economics, the web, etc.. I think that is a fair point.

[@LiangShanPo]

"The most formidable weapon against errors of every kind is reason". - Tom Paine Doesn't reason create errors?

[@Dagvalda]

Sometimes, and reason is the best weapon against those errors still.

[@deparvius]

The biggest mistake by Curtis in this series is conflating Systems Theory with equilibrium. He rightly points out that self-seeking equilibrium in systems is often a romantic and incorrect notion, however systems theory has since moved on. We can model things with dynamical systems, noting that chaos complicates things, but with the power of stochastics and control theory the notion of systems is still one of our best tools for understanding and controlling our world, a little at a time.

[@099749]

cont... As always I answer with a relative multi-organisational system.

[@099749]

There are many form of organisation, surely the best way is to use the best form of organisation for each area of a society, the market clearly does not act well under the current system, politcal democracy doesnt work either.

[@thekappen]

AC would benefit greatly in terms of his 20th century narrative if he was more familiar with Nietzsche, Heidegger and Spengler

[@F--B]

YES

[@livingcircle]

Inspiration is an influx of reality into a system of thinking designed to defend against it. Such as to re-purpose the abilities of a consciousness structured for 'getting' into a consciousness of re 'membering'. The formare is polarized and separative and manipulative. The latter is unified and unifying.

[@andrewwelch5]

Reason is logic. Logic = divisions and it is reductionist. Logic is also arguably a human trait. Errors come from the lack of accountability for the unpredictable, and from making the wrong decision1 ;)

[@gelectrox]

Not the same listening to Adam Curtis without shots of the Twin Tower , Assad, Donald Trump getting his hair done.

[@DizGuys]

revenge of the lawn

[@toemas8]

When you look at all they great leaders of our time they all had a understanding of the human condition while these mathematicians lock themselves in a room come up with these sytems, that fail to recognise that people are not entirley rational or predictable.

[@kasyapa]

the ayn rand section of his recent documentary was one of the most horrendously error-ridden things ever transmitted on television. incredible.

[@ukeuwatch]

@Phi1point62 Of course. Any True ideology cannot fail, only be failed.

[@F--B]

18:00 sure, you're not going to do it through idealistic non-hierarchical orgs, but you're also not going to do it through 'confronting power' - Curtis himself has fallen into a naive and romantic notion that simply doesn't work in any significant way.

[@angklungeds]

Adam Curtis wouldn't pass water on the Zeitgeist documentaries. What the fuck is with the recording? Someone edited the space between his words to save running time. It's really annoying.

[@ecolabs1]

At 9:50 Adam describes what he is doing. He says 'look what you believe in is this, it comes from here and then I put on top of it my own judgement, I think its naive.' But actually Adam's understanding of ecological thinking, while having some vaildity, is entirely too simplistic to draw such a premature conclusion. This is a very disappointing series of films.