Anthony J. Pennings, PhD

WRITINGS ON DIGITAL ECONOMICS, ENERGY STRATEGIES, AND GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS

All Watched over by “Systems” of Loving Grace

Adam Curtis’ documentary series, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, delves into the relationship between technology, political ideologies, and human agency. Inspired by Richard Brautigan’s poem, Curtis explores how technology shapes our governance systems and worldview. In “The Use and Abuse of Vegetational Concepts,” Curtis critiques the adoption of natural systems thinking in political and technological contexts, tracing the origins of ecological systems thinking back to the work of figures like Jay Forrester, Norbert Wiener, Buckminster Fuller, and the Odum brothers. These ideas, initially intended to describe natural ecosystems, were later applied to human societies and governance, conflating nature with machine intelligence. Curtis raises concerns about how these systems-based frameworks reduce humans to mere nodes in networks, challenging the Enlightenment view of humanity as autonomous and separate from nature.

Curtis also explores the legacy of systems thinking through the work of the Club of Rome and its 1972 publication Limits to Growth, which used computer simulations to model the Earth as a closed system. The documentary raises questions about the consequences of seeing human and natural systems as mechanistic, potentially leading to a distorted understanding of complex, dynamic realities.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace – The Poem

I’m following and commenting on the BBC documentary series All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace by Adam Curtis. So, I wanted to post the actual poem and reading by American poet Richard Brautigan.

All Watched Over by Heroes of Loving Grace

I took an interest in the BBC documentary by Adam Curtis called All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, named after American poet Richard Brautigan’s publication of the same name. What was emerging was a new cultural era of self-based “heroic” philosophies espoused by a divergent group of proponents. These included: authors such as Rand and George Gilder (Wealth and Poverty); economists such as Arthur Laffer, who championed supply-side economics and Milton Friedman of the Chicago School; and Self-help gurus such as Scientology’s L. Ron Hubbard, est’s Werner Erhard and fire-walker Tony Robbins. Even heroic popular culture icons in Star Wars and the Superman movies helped characterize the new era.

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  • About Me

    Professor at State University of New York (SUNY) Korea since 2016. Moved to Austin, Texas in August 2012 to join the Digital Media Management program at St. Edwards University. Spent the previous decade on the faculty at New York University teaching and researching information systems, digital economics, and strategic communications.

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    apennings70@gmail.com
    anthony.pennings@sunykorea.ac.kr

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    The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of my employers, past or present.