I always describe Silicon Valley (the show) as being solidly in the Uncanny Valley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley). It's humorous and absurd, but at the same time so close to reality it's unsettling.
Not only did I have that exact same conversation with my coworker the day previously about the exact brand of yogurt, on post-analysis we're pretty sure our company has stocked the exact same spoons they used in the show.
What Bevis does/thinks/likes versus what Hank does/thinks/likes versus what Richard does/thinks/likes could not be farther from each other. Just because they're all white doesn't mean they're all interchangeable.
In King of the Hill, our white Alpha, Hank Hill, the only guy with any common sense, tries to stay sane and keep it from all falling apart in a world that has gone Haywire.
In Idiocracy, our White Alpha, Joe Bauer, the only guy with any sense, tries to stay sane and keep it from falling apart in a world that has gone haywire.
In Extract, Joel, our down to earth White Alpha, tries to stay sane and hold it together in a world that has gone haywire.
And in Silicon Valley, well- you get the idea. I love Mike Judge films, he is an astute observer and hilarious. but his ouvre is not broad. He's got a formula, and it works, and that's fine.
Ah, that's not my memory of King of the Hill. In it Hank is the biggest idiot and it's only those around him that have any common sense.
I probably only watched the first season but I remember one episode in particular where some Laotians moved into the neighborhood and Hank couldn't except that they weren't Chinese or Japanese. His father who fought in South East Asia knew immediately that they were Laotians but Hank refused to acknowledge any kind thing other than Chinese or Japanese. Hank's wife went on to bake a "Apple Brown Betty" (I think that's what it's called) and got upset when the Laotian neighbor made it better.
For a while I couldn't decide if it was life imitating art, or a tongue-in-cheek nod to the stereotype we were seen as. But it wasn't the latter, the founder/president wasn't that self-aware.
I can't imagine who thought that the community of some of the world's biggest nerds wanted to listen to Flo-Rida !?
Say what you will about the world's biggest nerds, but irony, whether purposeful or inexplicably accidental, is not lost on them.
Ninja Edit: New conference name :)
That was fast.
I was all for a name change from a juvenile pun, but "NeurIPS" is hilariously bad. It confirms, that everyone but the press, continues calling it NIPS.
> line to see Flo-Rida went around the block
I mean, if it was a free (already paid for) concert, then I would go for it too.
BTW the whole renaming of NIPS to NeurIPS could be an episode of SV, where a board of directors are all offended by names of body parts!
Of course I'm not trying to say all ML researchers are dweebs, but if that description applies to 10% of attendees, you've got a line.
Traveller is where of course Elite ripped off the initial space combat system from.
Similar story to Peter Jackson who started with Bad Taste.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/magazine/mike-judge-the-b...
With grade inflation and babysitting modern age students, what are the realistic requirements to attain a university degree in a low-difficulty major at a mediocre school? 80 IQ? 85?
The literacy argument is trivially refuted in a similar manner. Reading by itself is not indicative of higher cognitive function above an elementary school child.
Also, proportions are what matter here. I doubt the proportion of people with high fluid/crystallized intelligence is higher now, than it was, say in 1850. The only difference is that now a higher proportion of the general population have degrees.
I realize we're talking about humanity as a whole, but I don't see the appeal of the 70's.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/magazine/mike-judge-the-b...
“I should’ve made it 10 years later and set in the present.”
OK, now I have to watch it.
This is what Iannucci says about making more of The Thick of It -- it's impossible to do because current politicians are self satarising in ways that are unbelievable if you put them on screen, even if those things actually happened in real life.