STWR - Share The World's Resources

Orginally produced by Adam Curtis for the BBC, this documentary analyses the origins of the developed world's political understanding of freedom - a concept so blinkered that  it has left us in a trap of our own making and is compounding global inequality.

180 mins - Adam Curtis, 29th April 09

Part 1: F**k you Buddy

Part 2: The Lonely Robot

This episode focuses on the 1990s, politicians' decision to apply the  free market model to the rest of society, and the consequences of these economic policy changes around the world. 

Part 3: We Will Force You to be Free

In this episode Curtis analyses the warped nature of the prevalent idea of freedom, and how it traps the members of western societies. 

The central argument in The Trap is that modern society is based on a bleak view of humankind hatched during the Cold war, when US military tacticians studied game theory in an attempt to predict what the Russians would do. They concluded it was better to selfishly stockpile weapons than work toward mutual disarmament - because what if the other side didn't play ball?

The result was years of terrifying détente. But this beat a nuclear holocaust, so game theory seemed to work. It brought stability. And it was then applied to mankind as a whole: the belief grew that we're fundamentally selfish creatures concerned only with our own interests - and that, paradoxically, this very selfishness should be encouraged, since the end result is widespread economic stability. When everybody's continually screwing everybody else over, it all balances out. In game theory, that is. In reality, the rich grow richer and the poor become virtual serfs.

From a Review by Charlie Brooker, The Guardian (UK)