Artificial intelligence + Virtual Reality = Artificial Reality

But my source is usually some Indian dude on Quora…

I liked the episode and definitely wiped away tears but I sooort of get the point he’s making. While the relationship elements themselves were great, the worldbuilding was limited and was a bit too sweet for the Last of Us world.

I would have liked to see (a) about 10% more tie to Joel and Ellie’s story, the segue from the dead woman to Bill’s entire story was a bit abrupt and Joel could have had more than one appearance in Bill’s backstory.

And (b) been a bit more realistic about the whole peaceful white picket fence life. Found it hard to buy that they could live so out in the open like that once raiders knew where they lived. They could be easily be picked off while outside by a sniper - they’d have to be careful. Showing them continue to love each other as they grew older under these trying circumstances would have been a plus.

It felt very Station Eleven and this isn’t a Station Eleven post apocalypse world. Yes, there is light, but you have to look for it in the darkness.

I think it’s at that point a realistic crime show that’s set in a star wars world. But that’s going to have narrower appeal than the later story arcs (4-6)(7-9) that go broader into actual, you know, Star Wars.

The show really kicked off for me in that episode 4 people are talking about.

OP mentions Ripley though. Pretty sure they'd agree with your examples and overall point

I can’t tell if you’re upset for humanity or for nature. A lot of people are worried about nature and it always seems short sighted. As you note, mass extinction is a part of nature. One day or another another asteroid would have come or a supervolcano would have exploded and all these species would have gone extinct anyway. Nature gives life but it takes it away just as easily. There is no perfect state that exists that we are wrecking. Our wrecking the world is very much in line with nature. We are no better or worse than what the world and the universe had in store for these species.

Now, if you are talking about what’s ideal for humans and your concern is our future, that I can understand. But keep in mind that we have reverted many crises before, and we are in the midst of dealing with this one. We are a very clever species and when finally faced with the effects of our actions as we are now, we can find solutions. Climate change effects will take decades before they can cause global collapse and we will adapt and go on. We will desalinate, we will carbon extract, we will geoengineer if we have to but humanity will be fine (+/- a few 100 million)

Bit of both actually. About a former prom queen who was disfigured in an accident wondering how long she can keep her date from finding out by them both staying filtered via AR.

I’m finishing editing on a story about the metaverse situation. It’s actually AR based - people won’t just be reskinned in virtual environments; you can make them look how you want in ‘reality’ too.

Imagine if everyone could make their spouse look like Scarlett Johannsen or Chris Hemsworth. Of course, that’s just for looks, reality will bite when you reach out for a hug if their physique doesn’t match. But still yes, it will drastically change the value of beauty.

Most event movies still have solid story and characters. Top gun had good characters and so it told a simple story well. Avatar did not have even that to elevate its simple plot and dialogue, purely visuals and worldbuilding.

For me the worldbuilding didn’t resonate, so I found it boring. For most, it may be enough. It certainly was last time.

I’m waiting to hear if the story is better than the first as I was incredibly bored for the first movie. Visuals were great, but I’m not much of a nature guy so they alone didn’t do it for me.

But I’m sure I’m in the minority. This thing will cross a billion easy. Cameron has said it needs $2B to break even though, so that’s the real question

We’ll get great audio and visual vr by the 2030s. Full dive with tactile and smell will take something like Neuralink and take decades - barring something like the singularity. Given how slow biotech advances due to the risk and regulation, don’t see that advancing anytime soon.

South america per capita income is much higher than africa and even india and I believe china. And we don’t consider most of these states very successful in the modern economy

Shows just how far west africa has to climb

People keep acting like China or east asia is the default outcome. These places had unified political institutions going back thousands of years. The more likely model of what “success” will look like is South America or Indian. And that’s if states in west africa can form stronger institutions, which is no guarantee. There’s so much more subnational affiliation in West africa (tribes, ethnicity, religion) that politics becomes just a revolving door of interest groups and corruption. Not great for nation building. The countries doing well in africa are countries that have one dominant ethnicity or have gone through the difficult (sometimes violent) process of forming a nation state like Rwanda.

Everyone wants Africa to get their due. But it is hardly the default and prognosis (especially in West africa) is not China like at this moment

It’s 100% because self driving tech is 10 years behind schedule. That was the biggest anticipated disruption in his video