Dawkins at 26:00 !

Enemy fighters at 2:00!

There's a lot that this film gets right, but there is also a lot for what the original thesis doesn't account for. The overall conclusion states that human behavior can be basically broken down into mathematical functions and can be predicted by the numbers. I think thats true in only the broadest and general sense. But what this "study" I guess you could call it also does is take away the individuality of people and their ability to make personal judgments.

While the film itself says that we've lost even more freedom due to personnel management due to the manipulation of numbers in attempt to gain more freedom, it kind of make you wonder if we ever had any freedom at all if we are all under the constant influence of these formulas and genetic predispositions.

@Wumpus: smartly said. University must be easy for you, no?

I have to say, Part 1 was a bit more interesting with the Cold War / game theory / f*ck you buddy stuff, but this is still well worth watching. Adam Curtis is always good in my experience so far.

*save for discussion potential.

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Thanks Wumps!

while it was well said, i'm not sure that i understand what you are getting at wumpus. you seem to be trying to contradict this film and its thesis by completely agreeing with it. the narrator mentions that a lot of the theoretical basis that led politicians to yield their powers to the markets was poorly informed.

geneticists have found that genes use different portions of themselves to change according to external environmental factors. thus, animals are not just machines that genes use to propagate themselves, but rather exist in a symbiotic relationship with their genes.

prominent game theorists have recently acknowledged that they overstated the value and reality of rationality in their formulas. they did so in order to make their models work correctly. thus, we aren't ruled by a numbers game.

i'm not criticizing you, i'm just pointing out that the film brings to light these very contradictions and the dangers that these missteps represent to society at large. that is its main thesis but you seemed to have gathered the opposite. plus, there is at least one more part to this series. and if past series are any basis, probably two.

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