Plain Meaning

Streaming has become the dominant way people watch movies and documentaries.

Most people don't even have the hardware to play physical media anymore.

This is resulting in shrinking access to movies and other video content.

An Irish musician made a song named after a South American river.

The song can make you think of travel and escape.

But researchers have known for over a hundred years what else music generally can make you do.

"Investment firms" like KKR use other people's money to take control of companies.

Those companies are loaded with debt and often go bankrupt.

But somehow the "investment firm" seems to always walk away a winner.

Many say newspapers are closing because of the internet.

But most newspapers were profitable well into the internet era.

The real cause involves real estate deals and Wall Street bankers.

The US Army fed thousands of troops with it during war.

China is growing staple crops with it now.

But US investments firms say they can't profit from it.

Companies bought public factories after world war II.

They converted the product to peacetime use.

And also created a Mississippi River crisis.

Marcus Aurelius is known for being a philosopher king.

He kept a journal writing thoughts and maxims to help himself improve.

But only two sentences out of the thousands in his book are needed to understand why he was successful where others failed.

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) like Cloudflare promise fast load times.

And even promise more security for websites.

But they've also contributed to the destruction of the ability for individual website owners to make a profit.

Most lawyers reference the United States Code when they talk of the law.

Many criminal cases are built on it.

But it's not the law. And both Congress and the Supreme made this point clear.

"The Promise" was the only hit of the British band When in Rome.

It was different from earlier New Wave songs.

But it was New Wave enough to be the last of the genre even if most don't view it that way.

Nearly everyone thinks America's election system is broken.

Some point to the problem being voter fraud. And others say it's really due to cheating election officials.

They're all right in a way. But also missing the point.

US phone companies are pushing to end landlines and replace them with internet based calling replacements.

China has been pushing an international communications cooperation group to make the internet a top down structure.

The result would be the same--control over what messages get through and which ones get blocked.

Books and pop culture teach that selling your business is the marker of success.

They say selling grows the company and gives the founder wealth.

But for many that sold, they have a different story to tell.

The mandatory switch to digital television was advertised as an improvement.

For some, they lost access to local news.

And the other touted benefits were not what they seemed either.

China is the world's leader in manufacturing.

But it would have never happened without corporate America.

And the support of two presidents--one Democrat and one Republican.

We're comfrotable with obviously fake things.

But when something is close to looking real, it's unsettling.

This may be why you feel something is not quite right with a movie.

A movie focsed on the shadow of crumbling institutions.

It involved a web of interests that was hard to understand.

But oddly, it's also a nostalgic comfort movie.

Plato wrote about a cave that contained a false reality.

The reality was made by puppeteers the prisoners could not see.

Digital algorithms seem to have replaced the puppeteers.

Political parties are private organizations.

Yet, two such organizations get state funding.

And the impact goes beyond just dollars and cents.

AI chatbots often provide wrong answers with confidence.

But often can't tell you why they gave the answer.

And it has alot in common with a financial meltdown.

2002's The Time Machine showcased a futuristic AI.

The fictional AI was shown as a utility.

Real AI is evolving into something far worse than a mere subscription service.