A 30-minute edit of a conversation between Adam Curtis and Russell Brand in which Curtis explains HyperNormalisation and his ideas on individualism, power and real change.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN refers to it as a compact source for the term HyperNormalisation and the idea of a constructed fake world.
“I watched an interesting edit of Adam Curtis explaining the term on Youtube too.”HN comment, 2025
“religion will rear its head at some point to fill this void”
Curtis discussing shallow individualism and religion filling the void
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I've been binging Adam Curtis documentaries recently, and the unifying thread has been the rise of individualism and its being coopted by commerce. In a discussion regarding HyperNormalization [1], he argued that we're beginning to realize how shallow this individualism is, and religion will rear its head at some point to fill this void. [1] this video
Cites itjbmJan 2025
“I watched an interesting edit of Adam Curtis explaining the term on Youtube too.”
Edit of Curtis explaining the term
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Yeah, thanks, but it's Hypernormalization. By chance (or the algo realizing I read HN) I watched an interesting edit of Adam Curtis explaining the term on Youtube too. this video
Cites itaspenmayerJun 2025
Cited as the source of the term and its description
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> The reality is it was an entirely fake constructed world designed by advertisers, and to some lesser degree, the political class Did anyone else hear this narrated in Adam Curtis's voice, or is that just me? link > HyperNormalisation is a 2016 BBC documentary by British filmmaker Adam Curtis. It argues that following the global economic crises of the 1970s, governments, financiers and technological utopians gave up on trying to shape the complex "real world" and instead established a simpler "fake world" for the benefit of multi-national corporations that is kept stable by neoliberal governments. this video HyperNormalisation explained by Adam Curtis link HyperNormalisation (2016)
Cites itaspenmayerJun 2025
Cited for the concept of a constructed fake world
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> If maga were both sincere and intelligent then they'd be actual nazis. They lack the second quality so they just spout ineffectually in public spaces thinking they'll get support. If they knew history they'd understand that's not a viable strategy. Ya need a lot more than that to build authoritarianism bro. Their egos won’t let them go full nazi. Cognitive dissonance is overcome via suspension of disbelief through self-hypnosis at home and collectively online and at rallies. Their need to appear respectable prevents how deep down the rabbit hole that most are willing to go, which is why they lean in to extremism, because it alienates followers from moderating influences of family and friends who are not already indoctrinated. It’s a cult of personality. The liberals are baited for clicks and impressions, and the left are again sidelined until the next time they need to be chided for being insufficiently centrist by liberals. Non-extremists on both sides become the controlled opposition relative to each other vis-à-vis the political parties proper. We’re tilting at windmills while digital sharecroppers toil on company plantations, their blood from stones mere grist for the blood money paper mill. linklink HyperNormalisation (2016) > In Russia, Vladimir Putin and his cabinet of political technologists create mass confusion. Vladislav Surkov uses ideas from art to turn Russian politics into a bewildering piece of theatre. Donald Trump employs the same techniques in his pr