Do you ever get the feeling that we’re living in a 1970’s era science fiction movie?

You remember those movies. Films where the plot lines had computers running your life. A movie where wars are fought with robots and drones. People didn’t call each other on the telephone but rather communicated over handheld devices, where you could see the other person on a screen.

Parts of the 1973 science fiction movie Soylent Green are happening today. Thankfully, we’re not quite at the point where the processed food is people. But the dystopian, overpopulated future it predicted, where pollution caused a shortage of clean water and natural food, and society consisted of a strong divide between the elites and those struggling to survive, is becoming increasingly more real.

And while those were science fiction movies, I want to recommend a documentary I saw over the weekend that gives a realistic look into what is happening today and what might be happening in the future.

The film is called The AI Doc: Or how I became an Apocaloptimist.

If you’re like me, you are both fascinated by and fearful of a future with Artificial Intelligence. Will AI create a world where diseases are cured, and the economy will flourish? Or will it create a world where jobs are eliminated, and computers start wars based on misinformation?

The documentary takes a realistic look at both scenarios. That’s where the word Apocaloptimist comes in. A combination of Apocalypse and Optimist.

I’ll admit that this film is not the feel-good movie of the summer. You won’t leave the theater singing a happy tune or with an adrenaline rush from some action scenes. But you won’t leave all that depressed either.

You will leave the theater with food for thought about what might lie in store.

The filmmaker is expecting his first child. And like most soon-to-be fathers, he’s worried about the world his child will inherit.

His documentary is interspersed with expert interviews, along with his anxiety about what all this technology will bring us.

It culminates with interviews with many of the leaders of the corporations that are heading up the charge to Artificial Intelligence. Conversations with OpenAI head Sam Altman, Deep Mind Technologies CEO Demis Hassabis, and Dario Amodei, the brains behind Anthropic, are both comforting and alarming. (Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk declined to be interviewed.)

Personally, I know of two friends who have recently lost their jobs to Artificial Intelligence. They are both young enough to find work elsewhere, but neither knows what that work might be. Can they take the skills and talents they have cultivated and apply them to other lines of work? They are hopeful but worried.

Very Apocaloptimistic if you will.

Hollywood screenwriters went on strike to protect their jobs from AI. You may have heard of actress Tilly Norwood. She’s not a real person, but you’d never know it from her actions on the screen. She is 100% computer generated. The iHeart Radio group is running promotions saying that all of their on-air personalities are 100% human.

Yes, we are indeed living in a 1970’s era science fiction movie.

A few years ago, when I first learned of ChatGPT, I asked it if Artificial Intelligence was going to be good or bad for democracy. I’ll admit I was expecting it to tell me not to worry about it. Kind of like when Hal the computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey told Dave to take a chill pill.

I was pleasantly surprised and yet very concerned with its answer. I was pleased with its honesty in that it will not be a benefit to democracy. That honesty concerned me. It wrote of a world littered with so much misinformation that people didn’t know what to believe, and that would be harmful.

It’s weird that I have to say this, but all my columns are written by me. I’ll admit that I do use Google AI to look up some information, but all these words and thoughts are my own.

I was tempted to have AI write a review of the movie and take the day off to publish it here. What I did instead was have AI write the review, and you can read it on my Substack page instead.

We are living in a 1970’s era Science Fiction movie. If you want to see the real thing, check out The AI Doc. Maybe you’ll become an Apocaloptimist yourself.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.