Time and Propinquity

In an interview with Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode, Adam Curtis describes Jim Garrison as "godfather of modern conspiracy theories" (7:44), and "one of the ideologists of our time" (8:18).

Garrison's method was searching for patterns, following a principle he called Time and Propinquity. As Curtis comments: "Funnily enough, that's exactly how artificial intelligence works." (8:30)

Cut to Jeremy Bentham, whose hedonic calculus also referenced propinquity. Social media algorithms are designed to maximize arousal and excitement, so this can be regarded as a form of hedonic calculus. Whereas Bentham's aim was to maximize positive affect and minimize negative affect (greatest happiness, greatest number), social media platforms will try to leverage any affective response that promotes engagement and supports their commercial goals, including outrage.

In an interview with Michael Brooks, Curtis acknowledges that his documentary method also involves making connections and drawing parallels. He regards his role as asking “have you thought about looking at the world this way?”, pulling back a bit and looking at what is happening in a different way. But, he insists, that is not the same as a conspiracy theory.

Curtis spotlights a number of interesting characters from different parts of the world in different decades. Sometimes there are family connections - Afeni and Tupac Shakur, George and Ethel Boole (plus Geoffrey Hinton) - or crossed paths (Michael de Freitas and Stokely Carmichael). Sometimes a character we met in Act One appears back on stage in Act Three (Bernard Kouchner). Are these significant juxtapositions or merely coincidences? Curtis doesn't answer this question directly, but he does claim that this collection of material serves to explain something important about where we are today and how we got here.

The selection of archive material is not dependent not only on Curtis's editorial judgement, but also on what was captured, preserved and available. For some scenes, we might ask - who filmed this, why did these people consent to being filmed, and to what extent are these scenes representative of the vast number of other scenes that were never filmed or properly archived? What conclusions can we draw from the fragments that happened to be available to him?

 

I met a traveller from an antique land ...

 

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Ben Brooker, The world according to Adam Curtis (Overland, 25 March 2021)

Michael J Brooks, What Does The Future Hold? An Interview With Adam Curtis (The Quietus, 12 February 2021) 

Adam Curtis, Can't Get You Out Of My Head (BBC 2021)

Adam Curtis, From Tupac to Dom Cummings: meet the cast of characters in Adam Curtis's new series (Guardian, 6 Feb 2021)

Kermode and Mayo, Adam Curtis interviewed by Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode (29 January 2021)

Sam Knight, Adam Curtis Explains It All (New Yorker, 28 January 2021) 

Adam Koper, Thoughts on Adam Curtis’ Can’t Get You Out of My Head (26 February 2021)

Adam Koper, A critical conceptualization of conspiracy theory (Constellations, 2023)

Fred Litwin, On the Trail of Delusion - Jim Garrison the Great Accuser (2020) 

Wikipedia: Chekhov's Gun, Hedonic Calculus

Related posts: Optimizing for Outrage (March 2021)