Curtis responds to this modern supposedly techno-utopian world by marking the West's demise into rampant liberalism and the creation of a parallel power structure among the world's financial elites, displacing the tradition political order. Thus, we find ourselves in financial crisis, our governments indebted to the financial blackhole created by reckless lending and investment and transference of debt to taxpayers.
Looking through the arguments on other websites, such as this and this and this and this [the joys of liberation from academic referencing], one notes a few sticky hotspots in Curtis' distribution of blame, fault, and wrong-doing. The sloppy causal reasoning, the factual inconsistencies, and the ever-widening conspiratorial interconnected web of self-interest.
Ayn Rand is selected as the epicentre of a new culture of virtue through self-betterment which sharply contrasts to utilitarianism, the doctrine that our sense of ethics should be guided by the betterment of all human beings.
In Curtis' analysis, a new world order of finance in the hands of the few has come into being based on our love of computers and the idea that we might create a new reality based on the inner perfection of the workings of computers. This goes in tandem with the argument that the utopian hyperdemocracy that the internet potentiates creates a false sense of horizontal power which in reality is just another opportunity for the usual suspects to create new markets based on our need to share our feelings. Thus, a blog post - an icon of free thought - is an opportunity for generating revenue directly or indirectly through statistical data collection and advertising.
The model, perfect within its digital realm, is seen to be inept when faced with the forces of love, lust, and above all, power. Hapless politicians delegate in investment experts to oversee the economy, the overseers defer to the market, and when the market fails, 'ordinary people' people pick up the bill. But this seems to miss the point about computing and modelling, tools for the transformation of society perhaps, but not replacements for regulatory bodies. Is it really the fact that we have culturally invested in a model? What is a model? Surely the question is why was such and such model was created, by whom, for what purpose? Who runs the model and who looks over the modeller's shoulder?
If the financial models have failed, then we must investigate the markets and only then return to the models. Surely the pertinent, obvious, and oft repeated question is why did the markets fail us yet again? Every 'ordinary person' will tell you that it was the greed of the bankers, and perhaps they are on to something. We will design our new models of the market based on the evidence that the market can be sabotaged, that the freedom permitted by excessive deregulation allows interference and domination not just from politicians, but rather from the short-termism of executive boards across the financial landscape? If the market were rational, then it would self-correct efficiently. This leaves two assertions:
- The market is built on people but people are not always rational, hence the market incorporates irrational decision-making.
- The self-gratifying individualism of ‘some’ top-level investors is to the detriment of the holistic market, even as these same individuals act rationally towards their own betterment.
If the latter, then the market needs further mechanisms to prevent those with monopolistic power over the market from pursuiing individual gain above and to the detriment of the economy as a whole. Curtis may be slightly off the mark in blaming our reification of modelled environments, but the point is simply that individual greed does not necessarily scale up to market beneficence.
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Lastly, I would say this series is a joy to watch and I recommend you divert your attention five degrees north to the address bar and view it. It is the skill of the visual artist that shines here, weaving together an exciting story, which presents logical argument in the manner of the dramatist, who loves point and counterpoint and chooses his characters wisely to that effect. The soundtrack is also wonderful.
