Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Verso visited Trevor Paglen's studio to discuss images, mind control, MKUltra, PSYOPs, and his new book, How to See Like a Machine.
We once looked at pictures. Then, with the advent of computer vision and machine learning, pictures started looking at us.
"A skilled magician has a sophisticated understanding of how to exploit preconscious perceptions and the gap separating them from reason. They insert themselves into that space to bend our experience of reality ... The CIA was absolutely interested in magic—so much so that one of the very first people they brought into MKUltra was a magician."
– from How to See Like a Machine by Trevor Paglen
How to See Like a Machine by Trevor Paglen is available now from Verso Books:
versobooks.com/products/3477-how-to-see-like-a-machine?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=paglen_video
Verso visited Trevor Paglen's studio to discuss images, mind control, MKUltra, PSYOPs, and his new book, How to See Like a Machine.
We once looked at pictures. Then, with the advent of computer vision and machine learning, pictures started looking at us.
"A skilled magician has a sophisticated understanding of how to exploit preconscious perceptions and the gap separating them from reason. They insert themselves into that space to bend our experience of reality ... The CIA was absolutely interested in magic—so much so that one of the very first people they brought into MKUltra was a magician."
– from How to See Like a Machine by Trevor Paglen
How to See Like a Machine by Trevor Paglen is available now from Verso Books:
versobooks.com/products/3477-how-to-see-like-a-machine?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=paglen_video
