Just watched the new Jacob Geller and I have some thoughts.

Like, to me the main "point" of the video is about the dangers of "frictionless lives". About how people have gotten so good at living within four walls hooked up to a screen that within seconds can show them any movie, any song, any book, and how that will lead, or maybe already has led, to the death of community and culture. People's capacity to spend the future without conflict or desire will lead to that future being made up of dead malls and empty rooms.

And like, to be completely honest, I don't see it. I just don't see that happening, to be honest. Even within lives that are inextricably linked to the internet there's still a lot of friction, not just from doomscrolling, either. Like I'm pretty well-off and online by Latin American standards and the ways in which the economy and politics of Chile and Argentina have added "friction" into my life are uncountable, and that's not even to speak of the millions of my countrymen that are affected way more. Even the most online people I know irl have sex, hang out with others, and go to extremely *alive* malls. To most people living right now the world is very friction-full and, to be honest, not super empty.

To me it feels like if you wanted to argue that the future is made up of conflict-less empty rooms you would need to assume that the future is only inhabited by Middle and Upper class people from the first world, and, maybe coincidentally, that's the only type of person Geller discusses the works of in his video.

@AppleAmps i haven't seen the video, but I agree with you (yay, latam experiences!). That kind of statement tends to be said when the only bellybutton you see is yours. And the one of your friends, maybe 😆

@EnaWasHere
Sksjskjsks, good job summarizing my three paragraphs of text into one sentence and an emoji, I agree!

@AppleAmps I honestly don't know what to make of this one. Even after watching a second time, I'm not sure I can pick out a coherent thesis.

My favorite potential thesis is the Twilight Zone quote ("There's one thing we can't simulate [...] Man's hunger for companionship"). He quotes it twice and it'd work well as a thesis, but then he gets into Inside and The Veldt, which don't really support it. (I think Inside could connect to it, but he doesn't draw that connection.)

I assume he read/watched/played various media featuring projected images, and thought "there's a video in here somewhere," and made this. And I mean, fair enough, there is a common thread.

But "these sci-fi stories that are supposed to feel alienating sure do feel alienating" isn't doing it for me. I'd have preferred if he either (1) explained why he thinks we're headed in this direction, or (2) presented it as "here's some media I enjoyed." He's good at both types of video.

@AppleAmps There really is an argument that we're being pushed in that direction, and I wish he'd brought it up.

Big tech companies promote generative AI as do-everything machines, the frictionless chrome sci-fi future. The connections to this video are obvious in retrospect.

After the quote about not being able to simulate companionship, Jacob could have brought up how some people use LLMs as friends, therapists, and even partners.

That line from The Veldt about how Peter doesn't want to do anything "but look and listen and smell"? That reminds me of someone using GenAI to generate all their art, passively consuming the output while denying they could ever learn to draw for themself.

Arriving at a bunker in Death Stranding but only meeting the resident in hologram form, feels like messaging someone and their LLM "assistant" replying as them. Not a perfect comparison, I admit, but both people are putting a buffer between themself and everyone else.

@player_03
Y'know, yeah! The AI comparison IS something I noticed while watching the video and it's interesting how he like, covered that point in negative space. I still don't think it's as existential a problem as he makes out but I agree with your analysis.

Also holy shit you made Run?? I used to play the hell out of that dude it's so cool to have you reply to one of my posts. Good job making those.

@AppleAmps "Covered that point in negative space." In other words, there's an elephant in this empty room.

Also, glad you like the games! I'm slowly approaching the end of this haitus, so hopefully there will be more to play soon.