User:Lieven Van Speybroeck/Notes/All Watched Over: Difference between revisions
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===Ayn Rand (1905-1981)=== | ===Ayn Rand (1905-1981)=== | ||
* Alissa "Alice" Zinovievna Rosenbaum | * Alissa "Alice" Zinovievna Rosenbaum | ||
* born Russia -> moved to NY in 1950s | * born in Russia -> moved to NY in 1950s | ||
* writer / philosopher | * writer / philosopher | ||
* influenced by Aristotle "only" | * influenced by Aristotle "only" | ||
| Line 22: | Line 22: | ||
* main line of thought: the supremacy of the individual | * main line of thought: the supremacy of the individual | ||
:-> justifies greed, selfishness, desire -> in order to achieve his own happyness ("highest" purpose of man on earth) | :-> justifies greed, selfishness, desire -> in order to achieve his own happyness ("highest" purpose of man on earth) | ||
:->free oneself from all political and religious forms of control | :-> free oneself from all political and religious forms of control | ||
*"Rational Egoism": | * "Rational Egoism": | ||
:->a new code of morality: not based on faith, not on faith, not on arbitrary whim, not on emotion, not on arbitrary edict, mystical or social, but on reason. A morality which can be proved by means of logic. Which can be demonstrated to be true and necessary. Each man must live as an end in itself and follow his own rational self-interest. | :-> a new code of morality: not based on faith, not on faith, not on arbitrary whim, not on emotion, not on arbitrary edict, mystical or social, but on reason. A morality which can be proved by means of logic. Which can be demonstrated to be true and necessary. Each man must live as an end in itself and follow his own rational self-interest. | ||
* Reading Group: The Collective | * Reading Group: The Collective | ||
:<u>members:</u> | :<u>members:</u> | ||
| Line 32: | Line 32: | ||
:Barbara Branden | :Barbara Branden | ||
:... | :... | ||
*statement about love: "in love the currency is virtue" | * statement about love: "in love the currency is virtue" | ||
*statement about death: "I will not die, it's the world that will end" | * statement about death: "I will not die, it's the world that will end" | ||
*50's: Rand's ideas were considered dangerous | * 50's: Rand's ideas were considered dangerous | ||
:-> selfishness and greed had lead to the depression and financial crisis of the 1930s | |||
:-> role of politics was to manage and control the selfish desires of the individual | |||
===Silicon Valley=== | ===Silicon Valley=== | ||
* 1990's (40 years after Rand's death) | * 1990's (40 years after Rand's death) | ||
* immensely inspired by Ayn Rand | * immensely inspired by Ayn Rand (especially her novel ''Atlas Shrugged'') | ||
:-> "The self-made heroic individual" – the new SV entrepreneurs ("An Ayn Rand hero") | :-> "The self-made heroic individual" – the new SV entrepreneurs ("An Ayn Rand hero") | ||
:-> global social vision: everyone could be an Ayn Rand hero, aided by computer technologies | :-> global social vision: everyone could be an Ayn Rand hero, aided by computer technologies | ||
| Line 47: | Line 47: | ||
:-> self stabilizing system through feedback systems, where everyone was free to follow his own desires. | :-> self stabilizing system through feedback systems, where everyone was free to follow his own desires. | ||
* Loren Carpenter 1991: interactive pong game with massive audience | * Loren Carpenter 1991: interactive pong game with massive audience | ||
:-> creation of a model of society where there was no hierarchy: free individuals linked by technology lead to stability and order::====> "subconscious consensus" | |||
====The Californian Ideology==== | ====The Californian Ideology==== | ||
* fusion of radical individualism and utopian theories about computer systems | * fusion of radical individualism and utopian theories about computer systems | ||
| Line 56: | Line 56: | ||
===Free Market Economy Model=== | ===Free Market Economy Model=== | ||
*1986: Alan Greenspan speech | * 1986: Alan Greenspan speech | ||
:doubts about the stability of the free market system | :doubts about the stability of the free market system | ||
:-> eventually changed his mind under political pressure: concluded that the new system was so revolutionary that data figures were just unable to represent its ways of productivity growth | ::stockmarket overvalued? | ||
::fear that a speculative bubble was being created (figures couldn't show in which way the productivity was increased) | |||
::created huge fuzz in economical and political world | |||
:-> eventually changed his mind under political pressure: concluded that the new system was so revolutionary that data figures were just unable to represent its (read: the computer's) ways of establishing productivity growth | |||
* computer systems and the global systems they created hadn't distributed power, they just shifted it and concentrated it in new forms | * computer systems and the global systems they created hadn't distributed power, they just shifted it and concentrated it in new forms | ||
:-> www was not new form of democracy but a commodifying system (of emotions into entertainment) | :-> www was not new form of democracy but a commodifying system (of emotions into entertainment) | ||
::look into:'''Carmen Hermosillo''' (humdog) | ::look into:'''Carmen Hermosillo''' (humdog) | ||
*1997: 2 major crises | * 1997: 2 major crises | ||
:*Lewinsky scandal | :*Lewinsky scandal | ||
:*Asian property bubble burst | :*Asian property bubble burst | ||
:-> the 2 uncontrollable forces of love and power | :-> the 2 uncontrollable forces of love and power | ||
*constant push and pull between politics and economics, leading eventually to massive crises that are ultimately being payed by the ordinary people (taxpayers). First the asian property crash, fueled by American 'support', afterwards the western depression, fueled by Chinese 'support'. The belief that computers would take care of the stability (selling and bouncing shares according to algorithms), was an illusion kept alive until the economy breaks down, resulting in heavy inflation. | * constant push and pull between politics and economics, leading eventually to massive crises that are ultimately being payed by the ordinary people (taxpayers). First the asian property crash, fueled by American 'support', afterwards the western depression, fueled by Chinese 'support'. The belief that computers would take care of the stability (selling and bouncing shares according to algorithms), was an illusion kept alive until the economy breaks down, resulting in heavy inflation. | ||
===Conclusion=== | ===Conclusion=== | ||
Instead of becoming Randian heroes in control of our own destiny, we feel like today we've become helpless components in a global system that is controlled by a rigid logic that we are powerless to challenge or to change. | Instead of becoming Randian heroes in control of our own destiny, we feel like today we've become helpless components in a global system that is controlled by a rigid logic that we are powerless to challenge or to change. | ||
</div> | </div> | ||
Revision as of 13:03, 9 October 2011
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
Adam Curtis – BBC documentary
Read also: De Witte Raaf, ed. 153
EPISODE I: Love and Power
intro (excerpt):{{#ev:youtube|qL9BjKH5MSY|500}}
Ayn Rand (1905-1981)
- Alissa "Alice" Zinovievna Rosenbaum
- born in Russia -> moved to NY in 1950s
- writer / philosopher
- influenced by Aristotle "only"
Novels
- We the Living
- Fountainhead
- Atlas Shrugged
- -> science fiction world that resembles America in the 50's very much
- -> heads on the (destruction of the) idea of altruism
- -> politics are abolished and replaced by 'the virtue of selfishness'
Philosophy
- main line of thought: the supremacy of the individual
- -> justifies greed, selfishness, desire -> in order to achieve his own happyness ("highest" purpose of man on earth)
- -> free oneself from all political and religious forms of control
- "Rational Egoism":
- -> a new code of morality: not based on faith, not on faith, not on arbitrary whim, not on emotion, not on arbitrary edict, mystical or social, but on reason. A morality which can be proved by means of logic. Which can be demonstrated to be true and necessary. Each man must live as an end in itself and follow his own rational self-interest.
- Reading Group: The Collective
- members:
- Joan Mitchell (writer)
- Alan Greenspan !!! (Inception of the free, self-regulating financial market idea – computers would keep it stable)
- Nathaniel Branden
- Barbara Branden
- ...
- statement about love: "in love the currency is virtue"
- statement about death: "I will not die, it's the world that will end"
- 50's: Rand's ideas were considered dangerous
- -> selfishness and greed had lead to the depression and financial crisis of the 1930s
- -> role of politics was to manage and control the selfish desires of the individual
Silicon Valley
- 1990's (40 years after Rand's death)
- immensely inspired by Ayn Rand (especially her novel Atlas Shrugged)
- -> "The self-made heroic individual" – the new SV entrepreneurs ("An Ayn Rand hero")
- -> global social vision: everyone could be an Ayn Rand hero, aided by computer technologies
- -> "old forms of political control unnecessary because computer networks could create order in society without central control"
- the cybernetic dream: If human beings all over the world could be linked by webs of computers, together they could create their own kind of order.
- -> self stabilizing system through feedback systems, where everyone was free to follow his own desires.
- Loren Carpenter 1991: interactive pong game with massive audience
- -> creation of a model of society where there was no hierarchy: free individuals linked by technology lead to stability and order::====> "subconscious consensus"
The Californian Ideology
- fusion of radical individualism and utopian theories about computer systems
- "the global system of networked individuals" (do away with the traditional/established model of politics, economics,...)
- the government should be a facilitator, not a regulator and controller
- -> THE NEW ECONOMY: a new age of (financial-economical) stability controlled by computers
- -> free flow of capital
Free Market Economy Model
- 1986: Alan Greenspan speech
- doubts about the stability of the free market system
- stockmarket overvalued?
- fear that a speculative bubble was being created (figures couldn't show in which way the productivity was increased)
- created huge fuzz in economical and political world
- -> eventually changed his mind under political pressure: concluded that the new system was so revolutionary that data figures were just unable to represent its (read: the computer's) ways of establishing productivity growth
- computer systems and the global systems they created hadn't distributed power, they just shifted it and concentrated it in new forms
- -> www was not new form of democracy but a commodifying system (of emotions into entertainment)
- look into:Carmen Hermosillo (humdog)
- 1997: 2 major crises
- Lewinsky scandal
- Asian property bubble burst
- -> the 2 uncontrollable forces of love and power
- constant push and pull between politics and economics, leading eventually to massive crises that are ultimately being payed by the ordinary people (taxpayers). First the asian property crash, fueled by American 'support', afterwards the western depression, fueled by Chinese 'support'. The belief that computers would take care of the stability (selling and bouncing shares according to algorithms), was an illusion kept alive until the economy breaks down, resulting in heavy inflation.
Conclusion
Instead of becoming Randian heroes in control of our own destiny, we feel like today we've become helpless components in a global system that is controlled by a rigid logic that we are powerless to challenge or to change.