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Episode 1

A Bookstore in Paris

PARIS, 2014: A serendipitous visit to a quaint Parisian bookstore sends renowned tech critic Evgeny Morozov down an unexpected rabbit hole. He stumbles upon the mystifying legacy of Warren Brodey, a 1960s psychiatrist whose path intertwines with shadowy CIA operations and radical Maoist movements. Is Brodey a visionary tech pioneer lost to history, a modern-day shaman, or a cunning charlatan?

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00:00:39

The book that started it all was "Anthropologie de la communication: de la théorie au terrain" by Yves Winkin (Winkin, Yves. Anthropologie de la communication: De la théorie au terrain. Bruxelles: De Boeck Université, 1996). It pointed me to Edward T. Hall, a one-time collaborator of Brodey, also mentioned in Hall's autobiography, An Anthropology of Everyday Life (Hall, Edward T. An Anthropology of Everyday Life: An Autobiography. New York: Doubleday, 1992).

00:00:58

This was Paul Ryan's Cybernetics of the Sacred (Ryan, Paul. Birth and Death and Cybernation; Cybernetics of the Sacred. New York: Gordon and Breach, 1973) - curiously, much like Hall's book, it misspelled his last name as "Brody".

00:05:29

It's still available on Vimeo here.

00:06:58

The site is no longer available online but a copy exists on Archive.org (accessed on June 10, 2024) here.

00:07:32

The video (titled "Warren Brodey M.D.") is still available on YouTube - last accessed on June 10, 2024.

00:09:59

It's still online here - last accessed on June 10, 2024.

00:10:13

The film is listed on this page - last accessed on June 10, 2024.

00:10:29

Slightly modified bio taken from Brodey's blog - last accessed on June 10, 2024.

00:11:12

Slightly edited email from Brodey to Morozov, dated Nov 27, 2014

00:13:56

Warren Brodey—Interviews and Verite Video of Ecological Design, 1969-71 2-hour video interview with Brodey. A copy is available in the Raindance Archive at the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe.

00:14:41

Ibid.

00:14:47

Ibid.

00:15:55

The audio clip of Brodey's lecture is available here: Brodey, Warren. RIT Cary Graphic Design Archives, Will Burtin Papers, Subseries H. Audio/Visual, c.1956-1969, Vision 67.

00:20:31

A detailed account of that program is offered in the autobiography by one of its participants (Sheldon, Dale. Who Lost? The Autobiography of a Blind Man with Great Vision. Bloomington, IN: Outskirts Press, 2013).

00:20:53

The NSA-CIA correspondence on this matter is available here.

00:22:43

Report by Janiece Avery, dated November 14, 1963. File 2, "Reports by the Gifted & Blind." Warren Brodey Archive, University of Vienna.

00:24:13

p. 9 of Changing the Family (Changing the Family. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968).

00:24:38

Unpaged, available on Archive.org.

00:25:40

Anecdote cited here (Central Intelligence Agency. Inside Chestnut Lodge. October 24, 1974).

00:27:22

Brodey lecture at Vision 1967

00:28:23

Brodey lecture at Vision 1967

00:28:32

EEL Manifesto. File 4. Warren Brodey Archive, University of Vienna.

00:31:34

The photo is available here.

00:32:49

"Oser Children Guarded Against Kidnaping Plot." New York Herald Tribune (1926-1962), July 2, 1929. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: New York Tribune / Herald Tribune, 24.

00:33:39

Exact quotation is “the toughest problem he ever had to deal with.” Cited in Ross, Andrea Friederici. Edith: The Rogue Rockefeller McCormick (p. 48). Southern Illinois University Press.

00:35:01

Here are some such sites: 1, 2.

00:35:36

See Peter Oser's IMDB page .

00:35:40

That film is called "Vacances portugaises" (1963) .

00:38:56

Her name resurfaces in several Scientology-related documents online; by then, she was known as "Mary Skelton" - her husband was Jim Skelton, another Scientologist.

Tracklist

Brian Eno
Methane Beach (Green)
Brian Eno
Dark Country
Bedtracks
A Time For Neon
Brian Eno
Strut & Shudder
Bedtracks
Time Pause
Brian Eno
A Stream Green 
Bedtracks
Beyond The Mainframe
Bedtracks
Shut Out
Brian Eno
Desert Psychedelic
Brian Eno
The Navigator
Brian Eno
The New Idiot
Bedtracks
Between Darkness And Light
Brian Eno
Sampling Error
Brian Eno
Land and Air
Bedtracks
To The Mountaintop
Bedtracks
The Robots Of Dawn
Bedtracks
Hello To Everyone
Brian Eno
Scattered

episode gallery

Brodey in the 2012 video that sets Evgeny on this quest.

Photo: Still from the original video (still on Vimeo).