The film tells the story of two perfect worlds. One is the small group of disciples around the novelist Ayn Rand in the 1950s. They saw themselves as a prototype for a future society where everyone could follow their own selfish desires. The other is the global utopia that digital entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley set out to create in the 1990s. Many of them were also disciples of Ayn Rand. They believed that the new computer networks would allow the creation of a society where everyone could follow their own desires, yet there would not be anarchy. They were joined by Alan Greenspan who had also been a disciple of Ayn Rand. He became convinced that the computers were creating a new kind of stable capitalism - "Like a New Planet", he said. But the dream of stability in both worlds would be torn apart by the two dynamic human forces - love and power.
You may remember the film The Power of Nightmares by Adam Curtis. It described how the neocons and al-Qaeda developed out similar strands of thought.
Hat tip to Bernhard@moon of alabama Blog.
Post a Comment