All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (TV series)

Episodes

The first episode examines how Ayn Rand's ideas influenced American financial markets, particularly through Alan Greenspan, a member of the Collective reading group that discussed her Objectivist philosophy. Rand's novels, though critically savaged, inspired Silicon Valley technologists and helped form the Californian Ideology, a techno-utopian belief that computer networks could stabilise societies without hierarchical political control. Rand had an affair with Nathaniel Branden, another Collective member, with the approval of his wife Barbara; the affair ended acrimoniously and the Collective disbanded, though Greenspan remained loyal to Rand.

Greenspan entered government in the 1970s and became Chairman of the Federal Reserve. In 1992 he persuaded Bill Clinton to curtail government intervention, letting markets self-manage with computer modelling, a paradigm called the New Economy.

By 1996 production figures were not rising but profits were, and Greenspan worried about speculative bubbles, though after political attacks he suggested new efficiencies his data missed. American investors poured money into eastern Asian economies despite warnings from the Council of Economic Advisers led by Joseph Stiglitz; these warnings were blocked by Robert Rubin. The 1997 Asian financial crisis began when property bubbles burst in Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia.

Interviews and reviews

In May 2011 Adam Curtis was interviewed about the series by Katharine Viner in The Guardian, by the Register, and by Little Atoms. Catherine Gee in The Daily Telegraph stated that the series reveals the dangers of human selfishness and the chasm it creates between those who walk over others and those too considerate to do so. John Preston reviewed the first episode, noting flashes of brilliance but also an infuriating glibness as the web of connectedness became stretched; he said Curtis had a very big bite but not enough chewing, causing mental indigestion.

Andrew Anthony, reviewing in The Observer and The Guardian, commented on the premise that we had been made to believe we could create a stable world that would last forever, but he did not recall ever believing that. He observed that for Curtis there seems to be an objective reality a determined individual can penetrate by challenging the confining chimeras of markets and machines, and that the Randian hero is Curtis himself.