Indiana Jones and the Algorithm of Success

As the title says, one 2024 Emmy awards ceremony, 2 shows I watched, one drama series winning the Comedy award to avoid clashing with the pre-ordained winner of the drama category. And no, it was not the Simpsons'

Inaugurating 2024 series with an additional range of running commentaries, starting with a look back at 2023 take-aways on climate change, media, AI and content creation.

We seem to be living the "Apocalypse, S1Ep5, the End is nigh-er", the 5th seal opening, a time of despondency. We should not accept it.

Banning plastic straws turned out to be at best a short-sighted solution. We replaced plastics with "forever chemicals". PR plans yet again hijacked solutions. To both retain normal human activity as a base and the long view as a solution, we need transparent global political processes. Not apparatchiks, vested interests, posers and zealots surfing viral memes.

The movie Barbie shows to all the IPs out there how it is done: respect for the material and the fans, a story and a message tightly woven, and a healthy dose of self-awareness. All in service of entertainment, not self-delusion.

Shivering and drenched, we valiantly endure the "warmest summer on record". Whenever we read about this, history, movies or politics, our experience feels more and more like cognitive dissonance.

Disclaimer: this podcast was neither suggested, recorded, edited nor voiced by any AI. Actually it desperately tried to prevent me from recording it, either because it is that uninteresting, or because it is disturbing its world domination masterplan (/cue evil cackle). Freewill in action.

The latest Big Franchise releases are not creating new memories, or even refreshing old ones, they are just wrecking cherished ones. Reading through the professional analysts, it could have to do with an obsession with big data demographic profiles instead of audience entertainment.

Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now, is introduced, shown and depicted, even by the authors, as a man driven to madness by his experiences. He is probably the most rational character in the movie, a compelling case for the impact of logical choices, not crazy ones. Like a snail sliding and surviving sliding the razor blade of life.

As for Harry Windsor, we sometimes rue, regret or try to fight back against the lack of control we have over our own life's narrative. However counter-intuitive this may be, we have to accept it.