Typically decide to put two of teh more interesting progs of the week on at the same time

BBC1 8.30: Some mad looking programme using satellites to find lost cities in Egypt.

BBC2 9.00: Adam Curtis explores how in an age of disenchantment with politics, the internet has given man the opportunity to create societies without leaders, as in the Facebook and Twitter revolutions. He draws a link with theories about nature, and looks back at how scientists in the 1950s came to regard the environment as a self-regulating ecosystem, but were eventually proved to have failed to grasp its essential dynamism (I had to cut and paste that one )- I would disagree about the absence of leaders on the Internet, and hope it covers the lack of intelligent investigative journalism alongside the "disenchantment with politics".

The BBC 1 programme is fascinating

Don't forget the excellent option over on ITV1...!!

How could I have missed that

BBC1 is a tad slow, and too much waffle - just get the infra red and dig.............. then try it in other parts of the world.

BBC2 is calling.

BBC2 was a waste of time, except to confirm that there were some seriously deranged loonies around in the 60's.

Well, takes all sorts.... I found it the best thing I've seen on TV this year.

I am hoping the second part is better, Spaceship Earth. Ecosystems......... modelling the Earth as a computer program, the collapse of the Hippy Communes etc.

As I posted on the preview it did say it was about the rise of twitter (outside California) as a free chat site, and Facebook and Revolutions; and the alienation\disillusionment with politics and Politicians.

Wasn't he that Paraguyan left back Rafa Benitez signed before he left Liverpool?

Actually, that was part two (of three). The first part was about Ayn Rand, the influence of her objectivist philosophy on US economics through her acolyte Alan Greenspan, and the ultimate failure of such an all-embracing philosophy as it confronted the interests of financial organisations. The last part of that may sound a bit hackneyed, but it was a familiar topic approached from a fresh angle.

The common theme between programmes one and two was the danger of an unscientifically tested "science" of networks, assuming personal liberation can be forged from interconnectedness alone. The gap between theory and practice (perhaps more accurately praxis) means that self-interested individuals can organise unchallenged within the naive theories and undermine their utility. A bit like people on FISO who insist on intervening in every thread and driving their "point" home....

Sounds pretentious, but I'd take it over Andrew Marr's jug-eared platitudes every time.

If only someone would invent the iPlayer!


For anyone who is interested, here's a link to one of the most interesting documentaries I've ever watched:

Adam Curtis's 'The Century of Self - Part 2' about Sigmund Freud, his nephew, Edward Bernays, and the role of psychoanalysis, marketing, and public relations in the United States. Truly fascinating stuff.

Must agree with your comment on the BBC1 Egypt programme. Too slow. Too much extraneous waffle. And why does the BBC need 2 presenters for this - both of whom tending to act a bit dumb and listen in supposed astonishment and wonder with their mouths hanging open all the time? A lot of repeitition as well. But when some detail would be useful (eg the timeline), you can't even see it because of the gimicky camerawork. Fascinating topic, but programme could have been a lot more satisfying.

I'll check out i-player

Maybe I knew too much about the 60's, and there failed Communes etc...... The hole in the side of the bison was a bit much, though.

Nice one, Flyman! I've been waiting for them to repeat that since I happened upon the final episode and was completely enthralled. All Watched Over is very interesting stuff, though I suspect there are some pretty large holes in the arguments.