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The movie that doesn't get enough credit at predicting the future, or what is now the present, is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. DOGE, Palantir, Larry Ell

The movie that doesn't get enough credit at predicting the future, or what is now the present, is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. DOGE, Palantir, Larry Ellison's vision of nonstop AI surveillance, and all the data-sucking tech companies swearing fealty to the orange authoritarian are bringing the plot of that movie directly into reality, and I'm always surprised that it never gets mentioned.

armandososa 1y ago
I'm surprised there's no startup building a helicarrier
- swiftcoder 1y ago
  On the other hand, Helicarrier (YC class of 2018) went under this spring.
- pinnochio 1y ago
  Ha. That's the most outlandish part of the plot. In terms of enforcement and control, Black Mirror's Metalhead episode seems the more likely vision, where the robotic dogs are comparable to drones.
godelski 1y ago
I hate to break it to you, but Palantir was founded 11 years before Winter Soldier came out. It was commentary on the current world and near Sci-Fi, not a far off warning. We've been operating under surveillance capitalism for over 2 decades now. Which is probably why it doesn't get mentioned. People had already acclimated to it being the unacceptable yet inevitable future while doing their best to perpetuate it while voicing disdain.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- pinnochio 1y ago
  I hate to break it to you, but I'm well aware of surveillance capitalism and when Palantir was founded. And I didn't say Winter Soldier was a "far off warning". Maybe you need to check your reading comprehension skills. The unification of government data on citizens under DOGE and the push to use AI for surveillance under an authoritarian government bring us far closer to the plot of Winter Soldier than the bread and butter surveillance capitalism we'd already been living under. I regret that I had to spell that out for you.
  - godelski 1y ago
    > The unification of government data on citizens under DOGE and the push to use AI for surveillance under an authoritarian government bring us far closer to the plot of Winter Soldier than the bread and butter surveillance capitalism we'd already been living under. I never disagreed with this point. My comment was only about the point that Winter Soldier "doesn't get enough credit." My point was that setting was not just "not novel" but already common place. Meaning Winter Soldier does not stand out as a unique representation. I want to stress "not a unique representation" != "not a representation".
    - pinnochio 1y ago
      It sounds like you're saying the setting was already commonplace in fictional media? But you don't reference such representations in your prior comment at all. At any rate, while themes of technological surveillance and authoritarianism certainly predate Winter Soldier, I'm not aware of anything in popular culture prior to 2014 that really matches the moment _to the degree_ Winter Soldier does. And if you simply meant the actual state of America circa 2014, sure, Palantir existed, but DOGE and an authoritarian-controlled US military institution did not. ML, yes, but not the quasi-AGI of today that's a much closer match for the computerized Arnim Zola.
      - pirates 1y ago
        Metal Gear Solid 2 was talking about and predicted this 15 years before your example.

armandososa 1y ago

I'm surprised there's no startup building a helicarrier

swiftcoder 1y ago
On the other hand, Helicarrier (YC class of 2018) went under this spring.
pinnochio 1y ago
Ha. That's the most outlandish part of the plot. In terms of enforcement and control, Black Mirror's Metalhead episode seems the more likely vision, where the robotic dogs are comparable to drones.

godelski 1y ago

I hate to break it to you, but Palantir was founded 11 years before Winter Soldier came out. It was commentary on the current world and near Sci-Fi, not a far off warning. We've been operating under surveillance capitalism for over 2 decades now. Which is probably why it doesn't get mentioned. People had already acclimated to it being the unacceptable yet inevitable future while doing their best to perpetuate it while voicing disdain.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
pinnochio 1y ago
I hate to break it to you, but I'm well aware of surveillance capitalism and when Palantir was founded. And I didn't say Winter Soldier was a "far off warning". Maybe you need to check your reading comprehension skills. The unification of government data on citizens under DOGE and the push to use AI for surveillance under an authoritarian government bring us far closer to the plot of Winter Soldier than the bread and butter surveillance capitalism we'd already been living under. I regret that I had to spell that out for you.
- godelski 1y ago
  > The unification of government data on citizens under DOGE and the push to use AI for surveillance under an authoritarian government bring us far closer to the plot of Winter Soldier than the bread and butter surveillance capitalism we'd already been living under. I never disagreed with this point. My comment was only about the point that Winter Soldier "doesn't get enough credit." My point was that setting was not just "not novel" but already common place. Meaning Winter Soldier does not stand out as a unique representation. I want to stress "not a unique representation" != "not a representation".
  - pinnochio 1y ago
    It sounds like you're saying the setting was already commonplace in fictional media? But you don't reference such representations in your prior comment at all. At any rate, while themes of technological surveillance and authoritarianism certainly predate Winter Soldier, I'm not aware of anything in popular culture prior to 2014 that really matches the moment _to the degree_ Winter Soldier does. And if you simply meant the actual state of America circa 2014, sure, Palantir existed, but DOGE and an authoritarian-controlled US military institution did not. ML, yes, but not the quasi-AGI of today that's a much closer match for the computerized Arnim Zola.
    - pirates 1y ago
      Metal Gear Solid 2 was talking about and predicted this 15 years before your example.