A 6-part documentary series in which Niall Ferguson asks why it was that Western civilization, from inauspicious roots in the 15th century, came to dominate the rest of the world; and if the West is about to be overtaken by the rest.
Although some brands have been more successful than others in making the magic connection to consumers, the techniques the marketers are developing are startling and include the hiring of anthropologists, ethnographers, linguists, and brain researchers to plumb our unconscious desires and urges so as to better influence our decision making.
Michael Mosley takes an informative and ambitious journey exploring how the evolution of scientific understanding is intimately interwoven with society’s historical path. We now know that the brain – the organ that more than any other makes us human – is one of the wonders of the universe, and yet until the 17th century it was barely studied.
Schön’s great breakthrough was to make a computer transistor out of a single organic molecule. It was an achievement of almost incalculable brilliance. Some speculated this technology could spell the end of the entire silicon chip industry.
The Al Jazeera series Empire with Marwan Bishara examines the symbiotic relationship between the movie industry and the military-industrial complex. Studio guests include Chris Hedges, Michael Moore and Oliver Stone.
This series of films investigates how people have been colonised by the machines they have built. Although they may not realise it, the way many people see everything in the world today is through the eyes of the computers. Not just politics and the economy — but also in the way bodies, minds, and even the whole of the natural world are perceived.
The Shock Doctrine is a documentary adaptation from 2009 of Naomi Klein’s book with the same title from 2007. The book argues that the free market policies of Milton Friedman have risen to prominence in some countries because they were pushed through while the citizens were reacting to disasters or upheavals.
The Trials of Henry Kissinger (2002), is a documentary film inspired by Christopher Hitchens’ 2001 book The Trial of Henry Kissinger, examining the alleged war crimes of Henry Kissinger, the National Security Advisor and later Secretary of State under Presidents Nixon and Ford.