TV and Movies Focus Excessively on Politics

[stevevw]

Good idea. It is sometimes good to turn off the TV and get back into books. I need to do that more often, which is why when I am offline in November, I will read a book about how the cell works.

That sounds like riviting stuff lol. But it can be. When your reading such stuff its like an advanture into the cell or the cosmos or whatever it is your reading. Though I must admit I am also a very visual person so I like the pictures or video that will go along with it as well.

 

[AlexB23]

That sounds like riviting stuff lol. But it can be. When your reading such stuff its like an advanture into the cell or the cosmos or whatever it is your reading. Though I must admit I am also a very visual person so I like the pictures or video that will go along with it as well.

It does sound riveting. I like visuals as well, and the book should have a few scientific figures in it.

 

[stevevw]

It does sound riveting. I like visuals as well, and the book should have a few scientific figures in it.

Researching the cell is like going into an alien world but also like a city where you can find biological factories and machines processing life. Its amazing. That has spurred my interest now, lol.

 

[AlexB23]

Researching the cell is like going into an alien world but also like a city where you can find biological factories and machines processing life. Its amazing. That has spurred my interest now, lol.

The cell is a nanofactory, brother. So many components working together to help us, plants, animals and microbes live. Goes to show how God has made life in such a fascinating way that is indescribable.

This is a good free textbook on how cells work. If you have an e-reader, you can download this as .EPUB format, or on a computer as .pdf format.

Lauren Dalton and Robin Young - Fundamentals of Cell Biology (2024)

Fundamentals of Cell Biology – Open Textbook

open.oregonstate.education

 

[stevevw]

The cell is a nanofactory, brother. So many components working together to help us, plants, animals and microbes live. Goes to show how God has made life in such a fascinating way that is indescribable.

This is a good free textbook on how cells work. If you have an e-reader, you can download this as .EPUB format, or on a computer as .pdf format.

Lauren Dalton and Robin Young - Fundamentals of Cell Biology (2024)

Fundamentals of Cell Biology – Open Textbook

open.oregonstate.education

Thanks I will check it out.

 

[AlexB23]

Thanks I will check it out.

You are welcome. Enjoy.

 

[RDKirk]

People can upload their AI generated films for free on websites like YouTube.

I imagine the entertainment industry as we know will be irrelevant soon. The internet is continuing to level the playing field for free speech/expression.

I have no problem with AI generated content. AI doesn't have to be souless. AI films designed (directors really) will give the human touch that makes art have value to us.

I see some of those. They are soulless. And lacking imagination. That's because top quality film production is not a one-person job. The best visual artists are never the best story writers. The best story writers cannot be the best music composers. It still takes money to buy the best.

Back in the mid 80s when CD burners dropped below $500, I predicted that the big record industry was dead, that it was irrelevant. With cheap CD production at hand, I saw no reason why small regional companies couldn't make the comeback to the positions they had up to the 70s, when there were multiple record companies all around the US. I still can't fully understand why that didn't happen, and even more so with streaming content today.

 

[RDKirk]

I see it as old jobs replacing or maybe just modifying existing entertainment jobs. People wanting the human touch in art will ensure humans are still involved.

One can pour their blood sweat and tears crafting a movie with AI.

The problem is that AI takes away the entry positions...read: The learning positions. In Hollywood, AI is taking the roles of "extras" from beginning actors. It's taking the jobs of "assistant writers" from beginning screenwriters. For that matter, it's doing the same among computer programmers and even doctors.

That means people who wind up through nepotism and social networking as the AI-controlling "senior" positions won't have that learning experience under their belts.

 

[RDKirk]

It is true, but hopefully the movies are labeled with a standardized disclaimer that says: "This cinematic feature is fully or partially generated by artificial intelligence software".

Proper labeling is half the battle to level the playing field between traditional media and AI generated media.

That cow is already out of the barn. We can't even get food properly labeled.

 

[AlexB23]

That cow is already out of the barn. We can't even get food properly labeled.

Yeah, we can not label anything properly in the US. The Europeans seem to do a bit better on labeling things.

 

[Nithavela]

I'm tired of hearing people complain about it.

Most of TV and entertainment in general ALWAYS sucked. It's called sturgeon's law. "90% of everything is crap."

Sturgeon's law - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Nithavela]

I don't really mind the politics in media, but the political stuff I often see in new TV shows and films are pretty shallow and one sided.

Hoping AI film takes off soon. Imagine a world where a single person can craft a movie, TV show using AI. The amount of perspectives that can be put into big works of art will be socially game changing.

 

[AlexB23]

I'm tired of hearing people complain about it.

Most of TV and entertainment in general ALWAYS sucked. It's called sturgeon's law. "90% of everything is crap."

Sturgeon's law - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Wait, Sturgeon's Law is the same reason why people who grew up in the 1980s say that 1980s music sucked, even though I feel that 1980s music on the classic station is cool (one of my favorite decades for tunes). The other 90% of the songs from the 1980s were deemed crap, and therefore are not played on the classic rock station in 2024. Same reason why so many shows got one pilot episode and then were cancelled.

This is a good law.

 

[Nithavela]

Wait, Sturgeon's Law is the same reason why people who grew up in the 1980s say that 1980s music sucked, even though I feel that 1980s music on the classic station is cool (one of my favorite decades for tunes). The other 90% of the songs from the 1980s were deemed crap, and therefore are not played on the classic rock station in 2024. Same reason why so many shows got one pilot episode and then were cancelled.

This is a good law.

Exactly. It's the rose tinted lense of nostalgia, reinforced by the fact that only the good movies and shows (and the bad ones that are so horrendous that they cross over into being cult classics again) get re-runs, reboots and have a following.

 

[AlexB23]

Exactly. It's the rose tinted lense of nostalgia, reinforced by the fact that only the good movies and shows (and the bad ones that are so horrendous that they cross over into being cult classics again) get re-runs, reboots and have a following.

Wow, goes to show that pining for the past is fruitless, as there was just as much crud back then as there is now. For instance, my friend went to three movies, including The Joker Pt. 2, and he said all two of the three movies were mediocre.

Ahh, that is the beauty of having a library right next to my condo. After 90-100 days, the movies released in theaters get released on DVD, and then I can borrow them from the library for free. For TV shows, that happens after 6 months to a year.

 

[Nithavela]

Wow, goes to show that pining for the past is fruitless, as there was just as much crud back then as there is now. For instance, my friend went to three movies, including The Joker Pt. 2, and he said all two of the three movies were mediocre.

Ahh, that is the beauty of having a library right next to my condo. After 90-100 days, the movies released in theaters get released on DVD, and then I can borrow them from the library for free. For TV shows, that happens after 6 months to a year.

I think a major problem is that people insist on just consuming "fresh" media, as if the old stuff has gone stale or is no longer interesting. And then they are disappointed by most of the new stuff coming out being bad.

By now, there is over a century of movies to watch. Several centuries of books, theatre and music are available. Video games have been accumulating for almost half a century. Even if one would refuse to consume media that has been produced after 2020 and would limit themselves to good media of a few certain genres they enjoy, there would be more than enough content to fill every minute of free time for their entire life.

But no, it has to be the newest AAA video game, or the newest movie, the newest series or the newest album by the newest band. And then, when that newest thing is crud, they waste their time consuming it and then waste more time complaining about it.

 

[AlexB23]

I think a major problem is that people insist on just consuming "fresh" media, as if the old stuff has gone stale or is no longer interesting. And then they are disappointed by most of the new stuff coming out being bad.

By now, there is over a century of movies to watch. Several centuries of books, theatre and music are available. Video games have been accumulating for almost half a century. Even if one would refuse to consume media that has been produced after 2020 and would limit themselves to good media of a few certain genres they enjoy, there would be more than enough content to fill every minute of free time for their entire life.

But no, it has to be the newest AAA video game, or the newest movie, the newest series or the newest album by the newest band. And then, when that newest thing is crud, they waste their time consuming it and then waste more time complaining about it.

Yeah, it does seem that a lot of folks want to consume new media. For myself, I am satisfied with both old and new media. So yeah, maybe it was my bad complaining about how media has become trash in 2024, cos hey, 90% of media from any era could be considered trash. It just felt sad why Star Wars and Doctor Who have been turned from that 10% of golden entertainment to the 90% of entertainment that is trash. We can thank Disney for that.

But yes, it looks like we all must try to look at media from different eras, and realize that there is good stuff that is rare, among a pile of trash through every decade. I downloaded a book that has a list of the most popular movies through each decade along with other books with lists of movie reviews, and plugged them into the AI, so if I need a new movie to watch, I could ask the machine for recommendations. Of course, I ask my friends first, but I might give the machine a spin.

 

[RileyG]

Hello folks. Are any of you guys tired of hearing about gender and race in modern shows made over the past 5 years? Imagine watching Star Wars or a drama TV show and then the show mentions "three genders" or discusses about how brown and black folks are always oppressed, or where one group of people has no weakness, instead of all different groups assisting each other with different weaknesses. Yes, black folks may be slightly oppressed, but TV is meant to be a form of escapism from this society, not a place to shove race or gender stuff down my throat.

If we really want to complain about stuff, we should complain about the division of economic classes, and how the rich keep on getting richer, instead of pronouns or race stuff. Ahh, TV shows were much better in 2014 compared to 2024.

Well said, Alex!

 

[RileyG]

I don't really mind the politics in media, but the political stuff I often see in new TV shows and films are pretty shallow and one sided.

Hoping AI film takes off soon. Imagine a world where a single person can craft a movie, TV show using AI. The amount of perspectives that can be put into big works of art will be socially game changing.

That just blows my mind!

 

[MehGuy]

No, they won't. There are already pure AI videos on YouTube, and they are singularly dull and uninspired.

AI in it's current state AI is a very new and rough technology. I doubt serious artistic skill is currently being poured into them. Right now the mindset of most people is in the realm of tech demos.

The problem is that few individuals are actually so creative that they can even competently function in as many different specialties as it takes to create an excellent movie or TV show. I've seen too many excellent directors who suck more than they realize at storytelling, for instance. And the score and sound design are whole multiple arts in themselves...it's no wonder that there are at least three distinct Oscars for score and sound design.

People will be able to delegate aspects of film making they are not very talented in to the AI itself. Or people can connect with others who are talented to help them out with the creation of the film. Which can still heavily be crafted by a human.

A person may not be able to animate but still have a taste and eye for good imagination (and a whole host of other things that go into the making of a great film).

"AI, design the animation in the style of Don Bluth."
*AI generates it*
"Ok.. AI.. let's do some slight adjustments to the animation style."

As I said before I do not believe the entertainment industry will die. It will just become more accessible to the average person. Wealth will still be created, but hopefully more evenly divided. Less directors making hundreds of millions of dollars and more directors making a few million dollars or even just a comfortable middle class living.

Of course many current entertainment jobs will cease to be, but many others, especially higher regarded positions will open up.

Saying all this we might be at odds in regards to how far this technology will advance. I believe eventually AI will be able to make highly rated films all by itself. Hopefully though films without the human touch will not be very appealing and instead people will flock to AI films heavily crafted by a human.