If you enjoyed this, Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation is what he has drawn heavily upon. He talks extensively about the "hyperreal" mental reality we exist within.

If you enjoyed that, you might like Phil K Dick's existential works like Flow my tears, cantata 140, hell anything of his almost. Even "the defenders" is a full on frontal assault on reality.

Finally, if you want to go clean off the deep end, read his Exegesis and Valis.

I liked the movie, but I was upset by the heavy amount of conspiracy he put in, and also the fact that he considered alternate theories on events as if they were the only ones worthy of attention. I am thinking about his description of the bombings as false flags destined to put the blame on gaddafi instead of syria. The main counter-intelligence on these was due to italian secret services, but further information obtained through the years totally debunked it. Still, he acts as if there was no question about it. To him, it's a US manipulation. I think it casts doubt on the rest of the movie.

I watched it.

Now, I don't really think there's a hidden power governing everything. It's just the path of least resistance and we are following it.

I watched this after it was last posted to hacker news. The footage from the BBC archives is excellent and the narrative it strings together is compelling. Any other books or movies that expand on similar topics?

I shared this on HN a while back. It's an interesting watch (at nearly 3 hours, Curtis keeps you entertained throughout). For those in the UK, you can watch the whole thing on iPlayer here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p04b183c/adam-curtis-hy...

Wow, there are a lot of really positive comments here for a youtube video that might as well be called Conspiracy Fnord. Can we get a more appropriate link so the comments at least slightly match the content of the video?

Regardless of your political opinion about the video, there's a shortish part where Adam Curtis talks about Cyberspace and the cyberpunk movement. As a big fan of William Gibson's work, I've found that part alone well worth the time. I'm sure there are a lot of fellow cyberpunk fans here, so this is my advice: if you are not interested by the political aspect of the documentary, the Cyberspace bit is worth your time (and pretty much free of political discussion, as the Cyberspace should be)

It's certainly a meal of a documentary, as Adam Curtis's docs often are. The bits that stood out to me the most was the discussion around the internet and echo chambers it has produced.

I had to consume this is 3-4 sittings, but I think that's how it was designed to be watched anyway, the documentary was only ever released on BBC iPlayer

That was eyeopening. The documentary provides us with just another example of leaders twisting religious beliefs to benefit their own power struggles, and somehow, they win, even when their added doctrine go against the established religion.

I haven't been able to verify the Syria link to the Lockerbie bombing. Anyone able to help me out?