All Watched
Over by
Machines of
Loving Grace

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace is a 2011, three-part documentary made by Adam Curtis, for the BBC.

The three ﬁlms trace the emergence of what might be called our current speculative, bio-mechanoid economy. Employing brilliantly cut-up found/archive footage, narrative tightness and horse’s mouth interviews, a world-wide history unfolds, both weird and deeply unsettling.

It is a “buzzing, blooming” evolution involving hippies, computer scientists, heads of state, bankers, liberals, mercenaries, conservatives, authors, biologists, and every stripe of utopian; all of whose irrationally exuberant faith in some version of stability (whether biological, computational, political or ideological) yields transcendental shortsightedness — continually plunging the globe into enslavement and chaos. Ultimately a masterly piece of film making — ingeniously assembled, intimate, frighteningly dark, and jauntily humorous — a staggeringly relevant construction. The horror! Oh the complexity!

1. Love and Power

2. The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts

3. The Monkey in the Machine and the Machine in the Monkey

Additional resources

This page is a tribute; it is not affiliated with Adam Curtis or the BBC