"We have come to believe that the old hierarchies of power can be replaced by self organizing networks... we dream of systems that can balance and stabilize themselves without the intervention of authoritarian power. But in reality this is the dream of the machines... as a model for human society and for politics it is wholly inadequate in the face of the powerful dynamic forces that really dominate the world today."
So begins part two of All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (See the full version on YouTube, DailyMotion), which explores the idea of organization by ecosystems or networks (Arthur Tansley). The video traces the development of systems theory of cybernetics, focusing in particular on the balance of nature through feedback mechanisms (Howard and Eugene Odum). This then maps to the idea of humans, not as members of tribes or nations, but as nodes in the network. The idea that governments cannot manage society. The idea of ecotechnics and free communes. Stewart Brand: "It was going to be 'power to the people' in a very direct sense." All watched over by machines of loving grace.
Enter the world environmental crisis. Jay Forrester and the Club of Rome, predictions of the population bomb, the idea that the Earth was out of balance. But while on the one hand we have ecology as preservation of the status quo, Jan Smuts and holism, the idea that growth is killing the planet sustainability, etc, on the other hand critics argue that this is an entrenchment of existing inequalities and power relations. Moreover, there are in fact no stable patterns in ecosystems, there is no 'balance of nature', as shown, eg., by George van Dyne (see also). And the revolutions of 1989, like the communes, began to fail, and for the same reason - the dynamics of power.
Also: Joss Winn tweets that Adam Curtis's other documentary videos can be found on Open Archives. Also interesting: Tony Hirst's cloud of links between people tweeting using the #awobmolg tag.
So begins part two of All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (See the full version on YouTube, DailyMotion), which explores the idea of organization by ecosystems or networks (Arthur Tansley). The video traces the development of systems theory of cybernetics, focusing in particular on the balance of nature through feedback mechanisms (Howard and Eugene Odum). This then maps to the idea of humans, not as members of tribes or nations, but as nodes in the network. The idea that governments cannot manage society. The idea of ecotechnics and free communes. Stewart Brand: "It was going to be 'power to the people' in a very direct sense." All watched over by machines of loving grace.
Enter the world environmental crisis. Jay Forrester and the Club of Rome, predictions of the population bomb, the idea that the Earth was out of balance. But while on the one hand we have ecology as preservation of the status quo, Jan Smuts and holism, the idea that growth is killing the planet sustainability, etc, on the other hand critics argue that this is an entrenchment of existing inequalities and power relations. Moreover, there are in fact no stable patterns in ecosystems, there is no 'balance of nature', as shown, eg., by George van Dyne (see also). And the revolutions of 1989, like the communes, began to fail, and for the same reason - the dynamics of power.
Also: Joss Winn tweets that Adam Curtis's other documentary videos can be found on Open Archives. Also interesting: Tony Hirst's cloud of links between people tweeting using the #awobmolg tag.
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