A steely-eyed creature sits in its lair, dark clouds looming in the distance.
asserted
clouds → sit → distance
Several prisoners tentatively enter, gathering the courage to deliver their meagre offerings to the unflinching force before them.
asserted
prisoners → enter → them
The offering doesn’t suffice.
asserted
offering → suffice → ?
With one severe glance, the creature has the prisoners fleeing, desperately hoping they need not return.
asserted
they → have → glance
This sounds like a scene from a horror film – the introduction of Hollywood’s newest flesh-eating beast.
asserted
This → sound → beast
It’s Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder and Meta chief executive.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
In Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, the tech billionaire is the evil that lurks, the monster under the bed.
asserted
that → lurk → bed
But instead of a lair, he’s in a sterile office, emotionlessly watching overworked employees present dissatisfying statistics.
asserted
employees → ’ → statistics
The film, a follow-up to 2010’s The Social Network (also penned by Sorkin), asks us to reconsider the definition of “monster”, suggesting it’s not fanged creatures and slasher killers we should be afraid of, but rather tech bro billionaires and their unbridled, unchecked power.
asserted
we → pen → monster
Set around the 2021 Facebook Files leak, Zuckerberg is no longer the arrogant tech nerd portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network.
asserted
Zuckerberg → Set → Network
Now, played by Jeremy Strong (Succession), he’s a robotic, dictatorial techpreneur, intent on increasing Facebook’s engagement even if it means intensifying hate speech, spreading misinformation and damaging mental health.
asserted
it → play → health
The suggestion of safeguards, which could drop engagement by just one per cent, offends him.
uncertain
which → drop → him
When urged to fact-check political ads on the social platform, he refuses, adamant that tech companies shouldn’t operate as arbiters of truth.
asserted
companies → urge → truth
Facebook, to him, is a corkboard – he can’t control what people pin to it.
asserted
people → control → it
Sorkin insists his Zuckerberg is an “anti-hero” rather than a villain, a person with good intentions but poor carry-through.
asserted
Zuckerberg → insist → intentions
However, Strong’s unfeeling lizard-like performance suggests otherwise.
uncertain
performance → suggest → ?
The Social Reckoning is the first of several new movies to turn tech bros monstrous.
asserted
Reckoning → turn → bros
Andrew Garfield will portray Sam Altman, co-founder of OpenAI, in Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial, landing January 21.
asserted
Garfield → portray → Artificial
Tracking the early development of artificial intelligence, the film’s trailer reads like a psychological horror, as Garfield’s Altman descends into a grim basement filled with guns.
asserted
Altman → track → guns
“We open Pandora’s Box together, the future is inevitable,” Garfield’s Altman says of AI in the trailer.
asserted
Altman → open → trailer
“Countries will fall, industries are going to collapse, and we get to be the ones to shepherd people into this new world.”
asserted
we → fall → world
It’s difficult to watch without shuddering, knowing that AI has been used to hack into government systems and to mislead using deepfakes and chatbot hallucinations.
asserted
AI → ’ → deepfakes
A former employee from AI safety and research firm Anthropic even warned that AI companies are “gambling with our lives”.
asserted
companies → warn → lives
Garfield has acknowledged the insidiousness, telling Variety he no longer uses ChatGPT.
asserted
he → acknowledge → ChatGPT
“I got a bit scared …
asserted
I → get → ?
I felt a little mistrusting of the technology.
asserted
I → feel → technology
It feels like the people who are encouraging us to use the technologies don’t exactly know its capacities themselves.
asserted
who → feel → capacities
That feels a little irresponsible”.
asserted
That → feel → ?
Fellow OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk has also attracted Hollywood’s attention.
asserted
Musk → attract → attention
Alex Gibney’s Musk, a nearly four-hour documentary yet to set an Australian release, traces the tech billionaire’s stint in government and ownership of SpaceX, Tesla and X.
asserted
Musk → set → SpaceX
Musk’s power is so immense that he’s described in the documentary’s teaser trailer as the “Earth’s most unchecked man” and, more concerningly, a “nuke”.
asserted
he → describe → man
Boasting a net worth of nearly $US1 trillion, Musk is the world’s richest person, and with such wealth comes great power.
asserted
power → boast → wealth
Musk’s lawyers threatened to file a defamation suit ahead of the film’s release, though no suit has officially been filed.
asserted
suit → threaten → release
Artificial, meanwhile, was dropped by Amazon in June shortly after the company signed a lucrative deal with OpenAI.
asserted
company → drop → OpenAI
Luckily, Neon picked it up.
asserted
Neon → pick → it
Similarly, Sony reportedly received a “strongly worded letter” from Meta after it caught wind of The Social Reckoning.
uncertain
it → receive → Reckoning
Though these films will land on screens, they’ve had to fight to get there.
asserted
they → land → screens
Perhaps the most anticipated “tech monster” to hit cinemas is Elizabeth Holmes.
asserted
monster → hit → cinemas
The disgraced Theranos founder, who’s currently in prison, will be the focus of You Can See Everything, a documentary by Nathan Fielder (The Rehearsal) and Lance Oppenheim (Some Kind of Heaven) landing on November 12.
asserted
You → ’ → November
Though only acquitted for defrauding investors, Holmes’ work on the failed blood-testing startup – which provided inaccurate and unreliable blood tests – could have eventually cost lives.
uncertain
which → acquit → lives
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
