A Future of Netflix | Hacker News Reader

A Future of Netflix

samjarman.co.nz

33 points_samjarman9 comments

This is more akin to the Star Trek fantasy generated by the buds attached to the CTO’s temples in “USS Callister” than “Bandersnatch”, which doesn’t try to make the viewer happy with its choices and presents a meta plot to those who rewind multiple times.

I’m sure Netflix will try its hand at faked video at some point, but its strategy of giving creators a high level of creative control seems to be producing good results. Regressing to generic AI-written storylines wouldn’t evoke many smiles.

The idea that AI can create great literature and drama is such a load of nonsense. Its beyond ridiculous. The human brain is incredibly complex and only the very best of the best create anything on TV worth watching. When it comes to literature its even more absurd. How could AI create Great Expectations or a masterpiece like Bleak House.

Does it need to create great literature and drama? Take a Dan Brown novel; it's not great literature, it's pretty far from it, but a great many people read it and really enjoyed it.

The bar for holding attention and making something people enjoy watching is pretty far from great drama.

If you think about it content designed for mass consumption isn't 'great'. It is better described as hyped, sensationalist and generic bordering on distasteful.

Having toyed around with some advanced tools from AI/ML land, I won't be shocked to see popular content being generated from these tools. Just look at the average sitcom, magazine, social media, etc.

Can you generate great content from these inputs? No way.

Can you generate popular content with these ? With a half decent marketing budget, sure.

Scary but realistic in my opinion. It is an interesting question what other influences except yourself matters. Like "oh voting is tomorrow, let us add some terror in it" or much simpler "the new chocolate bar which launches tomorrow".

Versificators already existed in the 1984 story. This is some kind of brave new world-ish version of them, giving individuals control but still staying distopic. A device that can precisely read your brain's moods would probably be really helpful for advertisers who want to find out how you react to certain stimuli.

4 hours with no human interaction and food, sounds awful.

Netflix is burning $859m/quarter:

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/17/netflix-free-cash-flow-q3-20...

There is no future for Netflix.

Company borrowing billions to feed a bonfire of cash, eventually has to raise prices. Surprised?

Nice chart of the huge increasing cash burn ...

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-15/netflix-hikes-pric...

What are the barriers to entry for the competition?

Does Disney-Pixar have good content?

Does Amazon have deep pockets?

Survival depends on the price elasticity of viewers as they trim their budgets going into a recession. So is Netflix discretionary or a necessity? We'll see, but when betting on Netflix's future, my money is on red, not black.

Of course there are a few possible futures for Netflix: bankruptcy; heavily discounted acquisition; or finding a Greater Fool, usually Microsoft in these situations (see Nokia, LinkedIn).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com