The Trap, Adam Curtis documentary

30 Oct 2021 02:15 - 16 Dec 2022 12:22
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      • Links Laing to RAND corp game theory??? And neoliberalism??? Really?
      • Views them all as destructive of traditional institutions (family etc) and replacing them with selfishness as exemplified by game theory.
      • Can't quite say if that's a big misunderstanding or not. Game theory does not advocate selfishness, it aims to describe it.
      • Here's my take: self-interestedness at some level has to be true, it;s the basis for life. But there's a big difference between this largely unconscious self-interest and "conscious purpose" as Gregory Bateson called it.
      • Some stuff around the 30 minute mark on the relationship of selfishness, public goals, altruism.
      • 42 minute mark tells a story about evil psychiatrists basing diagnostic categories on observables behaviors... sorry this is too irrationalist for me, what's wrong with that exactly?
      • OK, very interesting theory about the spread of theories of rational self interest. Not quite sure how Laing fits in, but very relevant to my own project.