Colony was a rare dystopia that tried something new (2018) | Hacker News Reader

Colony was a rare dystopia that tried something new (2018)

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27 pointswalterbell26 comments

If extraterrestrial aliens have the tech to travel vast distances across space, they have the automation to do the majority of physical labor and to build the automation. I liked Colony's human stories (even the typical annoyingly rebellious teenage boy trope was good cause he got himself emotionally manipulated on multiple occasions thinking he was finding his own virtue) but the premise was from the 1950s.

there is also the problem that it's already been proven via game theory/prisoner's dilemma that when future contact is expected, cooperation is the only valid solution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Evolution_of_Cooperation

Only in a closed system.

You mean the only valid rational decision?

Because humans are not purely rational.

That's putting it mildly... How many Americans have refused COVID vaccination and died because it it?

WHO[1] had the first contact with The Hosts 1 year, 11 months, 1 week and 6 days ago.

The GTA member states[2] unanimously voted to surrender to The Hosts.

During the first meeting the members decided against "Total Rendition" of the planet, and opted for the more humane methods instead.

All known members of the organization are human and it can be assumed that they derive authority from and work on behalf of The Hosts but the ultimate leader or decision maker is unknown.

[1] World Hosts Order (WHO) a.k.a. Global Transitional Authority (GTA), Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it has six regional proxy offices and 150 proxy offices in colonies worldwide.

[2] Member nations of the Global Transitional Authority are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, China, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates.

This begs the question: what happened to Russia?

Gregory (Scotland Yard): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
Sherlock Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."

Sherlock Holmes: "That was the curious incident."

– "Silver Blaze" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1892)

The theory underlying the Prisoner's Dilemma (and game theory, generally) are really important, but they aren't sufficient to explain human behavior. The kind of rational analysis you're talking about makes some pretty big assumption about human beings that aren't universally true, in practice.

Probably the biggest departure is that humans have a tremendous mental capacity to believe in a story that is more emotionally convenient, even when it directly contradicts a reality that is evidence-based but emotionally-upleasant.

People have repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to craft massive lies, and the uy into massive lies, even when it directly leads to the unnecessary deaths of millions of people... I'm not even talking about COVID here, I was actually thinking more about the behavior of Japanese civilians in Okinawa and Japan during the closing months of WWII.

For whatever reason, humans have evolved an ability to operate for extended periods in a state of denial of reality. I presume it's not an accident, and that our ability to defy reality has some useful function that has been selected for, over time, by evolution.

But there's absolutely nothing in our behavior, at either an individual level or on a whole- society level, that compels us to behave in an analytically rational way.

The denial of reality may be something, (clearly in the trivial cases, denial of facts, it is a common fault) - but more interesting is to ask the converse question: just what exactly does it mean to "accept" reality? As if there was a given relatively unique inevitable response, such as reason could articulate? (in other words, beyond basic common sense, there is really no "rational" way to accept reality at all.)

If we can't agree on some functional common ground for what it means to "accept reality", then I think our discussion is finished. Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

I think we can agree on common ground, I just don't think it's what really matters. Actually, I'd say what matters most, is that we disagree. What would actually happen if everything was simply true?

You might like Slavoj Zizek's take on ideology

The factory was used as a punishment detail, not just for manufacturing. Plus if the aliens are a race of AI constructs, maybe they consider using organic beings to be a form of automation!

Organic beings with diverse genetic and epigenetic history can be a mechanism for automated software development, i.e. AI training data.

Eh, maybe. But we see that the AIs in more forward-thinking franchises like The Matrix, The Terminator, or the video game Horizon: Zero Dawn all figured out factory automation from the jump.

Not to mention, as we know in our very terrestrial societies, human labor is very inefficient in more ways than one, though more creative for that.

That didn't stop the AI in the matrix from using humanity as an energy source!

I thought this was partially explained because the AI aliens were advanced but extremely limited in number i.e. there were only a few hundred left. so they need humans and human resources to make up for their limitations in numbers.

That they're AI-based aliens kinda obviated things even more, from where I'm standing they should definitely have figured out automation and automation factories and only needed resources as input. Digital consciousness with no factory automation? Not a smart move. Skynet and the AIs of The Matrix and Horizon: Zero Dawn all got that right.

It's an interesting show and worth the watch to get a feel for it, even if you only sit for the first season.

It was a fresh take on the genre. Had hints/references of lots of past human conflicts (Iraq, wwii, ...). Lots of alliance forming and back stabbing. Political intrigue. Lots of conflicting factions: Colonists, invaders, collaborators (Vichy France), insurgents, counter insurgents, ... plus others - each with different goals and methods.

It goes through periods of police state, anarchy, surveillance state, offgrid living, advanced tech, and the normalcy of life during all of these periods.

It's not perfect by any means, dialog is about the level you'd expect, and definitely some plot holes, but honestly one of the more creative unique and enjoyable approaches in the genre I've seen in a while.

There is one high stakes scene that takes place in a bar that contains characters interacting at probably 4 levels of deception that is fascinating to watch. Trying to not blow their cover at each level, while still trying to complete their objective, and then possibly swap sides during the interaction without making it obvious. It was choreographed to almost like watching a dance.

Really enjoyable show. I could seen an alternate world where if it were produced for HBO (and with their budget) it being one of the more talked about shows of the past few years.

By no means am I a sophisticated viewer, so I thoroughly enjoyed Colony, and was disappointed with how it ended. Do you have any recommendations for shows that you consider to be done better?

It depends on what aspect of it you're looking for.

If you're looking for Scifi that maybe resembles it I'd say possibly Battlestar Galactica. It's a bit higher production level, although does have slow stretches during some seasons (I think middle third of S2 was one of them), and falls apart a bit when trying to put together it's ending. Writing is about the same, maybe a bit better - and has a similarish feel although not grounded on earth. Covers some interesting topics of society.

If you're looking more of the in depth discussion of the state of society (specifically American). The Wire is really spectacular. But it's not "junkfood" watching, it takes paying attention and a lot of points are subtle. It also takes about 6-7 episodes of very slow ramp up to get good, but one of the best shows of the past two decades - and plenty have said one of the most complete TV shows ever made.

If you're looking for just the easy to consume action and political intrigue, the first half of Game of Thrones fits that bill, but is now notorious for how poorly it ended. High production, lots of characters / back story.

Maybe 24 or Homeland would match if you're looking for more of a straightforward "stop the terrorists" themed show.

It all depends on what aspect of Colony you're looking for / enjoyed.

Thanks for the wide ranging response! Definitely some shows I should think about watching that I've passed over.

Other related shows:

  Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles (Amazon)
  Fringe (Amazon)
  The Event (DVD)
  The 4440 (Netflix)
  Travelers (Netflix)
  Utopia (DVD & UK Amazon)
  Eureka (Amazon)
  Altered Carbon (Netflix)
  The Americans (Amazon)
  Intelligence (Netflix)

One of my favorite old taglines, probably from the Fidonet era was like "the proof that there is intelligent life in the Universe is that they still didn't contact us". For years I thought it was just a fun joke, then Covid-19 happened and the following denialism paired with unscientific theories suggested that it could well be the case.

About Colony: I liked it a lot, but it was axed like many other TV series. Why producers don't plan in advance for a guaranteed number of episodes to wrap things up in case of cancellation? The boxed releases also would benefit a lot from this; what could be the value of a story that breaks in the middle of a cliffhanger?

It's a waste of money considering that the decision probably won't be made until principle shooting is finished and half the season has aired. On top of that once the network decides they aren't picking it up, the show is for sale to any one else that might want it (like the Expanse, for example).

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