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Weird Studies

Episode 47: Machines of Loving Grace: Technology and the Unabomber

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8688 Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2019

⏱️ 68 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Made in 2003, Lutz Dammbeck's documentary The Net: The Unabomber, LSD, and the Internet is a film about many things, but the gist of it is something like what William Burroughs called the doctrine of control. We live in a world governed by technologies designed with a particular idea of society in mind, one that has its roots in the trauma of global war and the utopian dreams of modern thinkers. The viability of this ideal is, of course, an important question, and it was made all the more urgent by recent developments at the intersection of technology and politics. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss the doctrine of control as imagined by one of its fiercest -- and most insane -- critics: Ted Kaczynski, also known as the Unabomber. Kaczynski's thoughts on technological society form the through-line of Dammbeck's film, which in turn serves as a through-line for this jam on everything from one-world government and cybernetics to the archetype of the magus and the Whole Earth Catalog. REFERENCES Lutz Dammbeck (director), The Net: The Unabomber, LSD and the Internet (2003) Chuck Klosterman, "FAIL" in Eating the Dinosaur Jacques Ellul, French theorist Suzanne Treister, HEXEN Tarot Deck -- Seven of Swords -- Justice -- The Sun Norbert Wiener, Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and Machine and The Human Use of Human Beings Bertrand Russell, The Scientific Outlook Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Kevin Kelly, What Technology Wants Weird Studies Episode 2: Garmonbozia Stewart Brand, writer and editor of the Whole Earth Catalog Ursula Le Guin, Always Coming Home Gary Snyder's idea that "we are primitives of an unknown culture" is explored in Phil Ford, Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture Richard Brautigan, "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace" (poem) San Francisco Oracle Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Spectrevision Radio

0:03.3

Welcome to Weird Studies, an arts and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.

0:23.3

For more episodes or to support the podcast, go to weirdstudies.com. Hi, this is Phil.

0:51.3

Welcome to Weird Studies, where this week we are discussing a documentary,

0:56.2

the Nat, the Unabomber, LSD, and the Internet, by the German filmmaker Litts Dombach.

1:02.4

This is a wide-ranging film, and J.F. and I had a wide-ranging conversation about it.

1:08.5

A little too wide-ranging for a single show, in fact, which is why we cut out a 40-minute

1:13.6

segment and we'll release it next week as a Patreon extra for our $5 a month subscribers. I mentioned this for

1:21.0

two reasons. First, to make sense of a couple of times where we call back to things we've said

1:26.1

earlier in the conversation that you won't have heard in this recording. And second, to Pimp our Patreon content yet again.

1:34.5

As you may know, Pimpin ain't easy, so we have to keep doing it every week, practicing, so that we

1:42.5

may perfect our pitch, working by trial and error to find

1:47.2

arrangements of words that can optimally manipulate human thought and action, and finally

1:52.9

arriving at wording so persuasive that in the end you will have no choice but to comply

1:58.8

with our demands.

2:00.6

Once we have mastered the science of psychological

2:03.3

control, your actions will become entirely involuntary, and the money will come pouring in.

2:11.3

However, as support of Weird Studies is necessary for the rational evolution of society to its next

2:17.2

stage of development, this is all for the best evolution of society to its next stage of development,

2:18.3

this is all for the best.

2:20.3

We at Weird Studies are creating a utopian society.

2:24.3

And now that you are hearing these words, you have no choice but to join us.

...

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