What I’m watching

The nightly news is a no go zone in our home.
 
There’s too much blood and guts (and autocue).
 
However, Wednesday was a historic night, so after the kids were in their jim jams, we allowed them (and their teddy bears) to watch a few minutes of the news.
 
Big mistake.
 
The first thing they showed was a highlight reel of the US election campaign.
 
“Dad, why did he get shot?”
 
‘Well … America is a complicated place’.
 
“Do people really eat cats and dogs?”
 
‘No they don’t’.
 
“What is he doing to that microphone?”
 
‘Alright kids, it’s BEDTIME!’
 
Truth-be-told the only news our kids watch is the ABC’s Behind The News (BTN) – a national treasure – and Landline, which gives them an understanding of how the food makes it onto their plate each night.

Yet when I’ve tucked the kids safely in bed, here’s a couple of shows that I’ve been watching lately:
 
Bitconned 
Netflix
 
This documentary follows a 22 year old kid who set up his own crypto coin to get rich quick.
 
The opening line gets to the guts of it:
 
"We lied, we cheated, we made millions of dollars. And now I’m facing over 100 years in prison."
 
There’s a lot of bro-ness: Lambos, drugs, and wads of cash being thrown around. Yet what makes this doco so revolting (and compelling) is that it is not framed as the typical ‘road to redemption’ story, where the lead character works out that stealing hundreds of millions of dollars is bad.

I won’t spoil it for you, but there’s a twist at the very end that will leave you shaking your head.
 
What’s Next? The Future with Bill Gates
Netflix
 
Gates teams up with film maker James Cameron – who created the Terminator – to investigate both the opportunities and threats of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
 
Look, there’s way too much hype and bulldust around AI.
 
And that’s kind of what I liked about Gates’ approach, it’s a nerd’s view of the technology. He explains how it works, with the help of Cameron (who jokes about how writing sci-fi is getting tricky when reality keeps catching up), and none other than the founders of ChatGPT.

This short episode gives you a good overview of where AI is at the moment (the doco was released in late September), and points to where one of the richest men in the world thinks it will head.
 
Oh, and this is just one of five in the series. If you have time you should also watch his episode titled ‘Misinformation’. Bill looks at the spread of false information on the web, and the threat that has to democracy …
 
Tread Your Own Path!