Extrapolations. Apple TV .
Apple produces an outsized number of sci-fi TV shows.
1 out of every 5, in fact. From their first slate of content in 2019 (See, For All Mankind) to their recent masterpiece (Severance). And nearly a dozen in between.
They’re courting audience members who are predisposed to purchasing Apple’s futuristic products while ironically reinforcing audiences' fears of technological dystopias.
Previous shows have harped on malevolent products like a chip that divides our work and home memories and fake moon timeshares.
Apple's tech and TV divisions are so severed there's an unrealized irony in their major announcements made less than 24 hours apart:
* Neuromancer -Greenlit Apple TV series about an unthinkably powerful AI
* Full pivot to AI - Apple is diverting employees to AI teams after canceling its electric car (Project Titan)
When Steve Jobs founded Apple in 1976, he initiated a dogfight with Microsoft. This reached its zenith with Ridley Scott’s 1984 commercial, which showed Microsoft as George Orwell’s all-seeing Big Brother.
This may be Apple’s most terrifying technological prediction to date.
Microsoft is a partial owner of ChatGPT’s OpenAI, which is so lucrative and powerful that Microsoft has officially, as of last month, overtaken Apple as the most valuable company on the stock exchange (Apple held this position at one point for nearly a decade).
Apple’s blind pivot to content to keep users in its ecosystem may end up being one of the greatest technological blunders in history, as Microsoft’s runaway lead makes their AI systems asymmetrically powerful.
For now, all we can do is wait to watch Neuromancer through our Apple Vision Pro and take notes on how we to fight back against AI.
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It's an interesting strategy to align your futuristic films with your products and a potential audience. I'd never thought of it like that. Off the top of my head, I can't think of where that has happened before. Can you?
Whilst Apple services has now reached 1 Billion subscribers, Apple TV has 25 million subs, or some sources have pegged it as 50 million. It's still a small percentage of their total subscribers. It make me wonder what developments they have in store for future release and a melding of their services? Share your futuristic thoughts below.
Ridley Scott's 1984 Commercial link:
https://youtu.be/ErwS24cBZPc?si=L1M81T2Jvcq6UfMe
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As a sci-fi fan, I've been LOVING Apple's content over the last couple of years. Not just their sci-fi, to be clear. I think they're making some of the most cinematic and well-thought-out series that I've seen in years. They put a serious focus on the quality of their content, over the quantity that a lot of other streamers prioritize. But their sci-fi projects in particular are pretty awesome. Foundation is one of the most visually stunning things I've ever seen. The cinematography is incredible. Silo, Invasion, and Severence are great! And For All Mankind is one of the best shows on "TV" right now, IMO. I get the irony of focusing on science fiction stories as a tech company in an era of rapidly advancing tech. In many ways, we're living in a time that feels like a classic sci-fi story. But that's bound to happen as the world progresses. I understand the fear around AI. But we really don't know how the world is going to look in 10, 15, 20 years. We don't know how the tech is going to be applied, how it's going to be regulated over time, how the tools can help change the world or handicap it. Right now, we're speculating and afraid because it's evolving faster than anyone was prepared for. But we sorta have to just wait and see how some of it comes together, for better or worse.
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Ashley Renee Smith ah, another streamer I’m not a subscriber of. I like the sound of Foundation, from what you say. I’ll have to check it out.
With AI, I think we have to be very watchful and not take anything for granted and certainly not just to accept any development as fate. We cannot have our lives dictated to by transnational corporations.
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It's great to see Apple making a lot of Sci-Fi shows, Geoff Hall, but I wish Apple (and Microsoft) wasn't involved in AI. AI is costing a lot of people jobs.
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Maurice Vaughan Indeed, Maurice, but I suppose a world without pesky employees is a transnational corporation’s idea of heaven.
Yes, I wish I had an Apple TV subscription! Darn it.
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Yeah, Geoff Hall. Until AI comes for their jobs.
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Maurice Vaughan there’s a story there somewhere, Maurice. In an age when the mass of the population has withdrawn from the internet and abandoned multiplex cinemas because of the vacuous AI stories, something more human rises from the sediment of the technological society. The resistance to dehumanising forces begins.
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I'd watch that, Geoff Hall.
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Maurice Vaughan me too. When do we start writing it?
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Hmmm. Not sure, Geoff Hall. I'm working on a ghostwriting job, and I just read RB's post (www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/A-Hopeful-Sign-for-Mid-Sized-Movies) today, so I might be writing a star-driven, non-franchise, $20MM-$50MM script next.
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A lot of good thoughts and comments here. I myself lean towards the 'watch it with a death grip' side of AI. As an IT engineer for over 35 years, I have seen technology recklessly applied, sifted through the consequences, and experienced only a few intelligently applied solutions after the fact. As a creator, I want AI as far from me and media/writing/acting/etc etc... as it can be put. It's CGI all over again. CGI was brilliant, a welcome addition to the toolbox of cinema. One could do through the computer things that practical effects would never be able to accomplish, though it did put matte painters, miniature builders, and the like out of work. Well, a good deal of them. Advances in the craft, we have to roll with that. But then it got out of hand. 300 minute films of the most visually cluttered, mind-spinning garbage graphics that do nothing to add to the story. Action films (looking at you, Marvel) became video games. Only, you could not play them just watch them. Ever watch someone playing a game? It's boring. The fact that AI cannot create an original work without reference material is scary. We all know the line on that one. I feel like we need to be on it, heavily, as it makes its way into our world and not be shy about pushing it back - or out - if it becomes unruly.
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James Hoey well said, James!