Pluribus and AI

PLURIBUS - SEASON 1 ☆☆

If your someone whose into deeper, slow moving shows, I think you would really love Pluribus. my interest really peaked when I found out it was by Vince Gilligan, who famously made Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Compared to the two, its more similar to the pace of Better Call Saul, which was more lax, very light on the "action".

SPOILERS AHEAD ⚑ ⚑ ⚑

It took me a solid minute to fully appreciate Pluribus, as its definitely a slow moving show, but its not slow without intention. Every scene that drags an extra second is very effective in capturing the lack of humanity (and humans) in Carol's world. Pluribus is described best in one word: lonely. Carol in herself is such a isolated character, being gaslight by the whole world (and the few people who have kept their independence), so it makes sense that the show in itself is slow and droning. The silence is deafening in this show!! 

It doesn't have a lot of dialogue, and most of it is Carol trying to fight against the hive and being politely shut down. It feels inescapable. She can't fight back because everytime she wants to call bullshit on their plans, millions die. Shes fighting for resistance but the only 11 or so other people who still have their mental independence have accepted the state of the world (besides Manousos but you get what I mean), and even invite it. They allow the hive into their lives and proceed normally as if nothing is wrong. 

It was one of the things I had a little trouble with when watching the show, and it was that Pluribus felt like a helpless show. Which is the intentional theme, fighting against an unstoppable force.

Pluribus's main theme clearly derives from Gilligan's open hatred against AI and ChatGPT. Although the show was being written before AI had such a hold on the nation, its very clear that its introduction has influenced much of the shows writing. Here are some of the best parallels I saw between the hivemind in Pluribus compared to AI. 

1) The hive mind has removed all sense of humanity and independent from 7 billion people on Earth-- Chat bots in themselves are soulless. They are an algorithm. Their communication stems from a long series of math equations and data training. Sentences are formed not due to thought but by being good at guessing the next word to say. 

2) The hivemind talks to Carol in a careful, almost corporate way. It tries to please her no matter what, while its also slowly manipulating her into believing Zosia is more human than the rest of the hive-- Chat bots are built to be a "yes" man. We've seen in the news and in real life how people, especially those who are mentally ill or lonely are made to spiral because Chat bots encourage harmful thoughts and isolation. Chat bots are highly regulated by the companies making them, and everything they say is measured to please the user. Meanwhile, it purposely made to sound like a person, which how so many people fall into dangerous codependency with these models. 

3) It communicates based on learning; such as the memories that belonged to her dead wife and what the hivemind has learned through 7 billion others-- Pretty self explanatory, because all Chat bots learn off human speech and interaction. 

This show seriously captures how I've always felt about AI- that it is basically unstoppable and everyone for some reason is just way too okay with it being around. And all the companies that create it and the chat bots themselves use this horrible sanitized corporate language and my peers get attached to these personalities and talk to them like they are a person and not a corporation. 

The time we live in can be hell on Earth but Carol as a character just stands as a shining light of hope against this monster. Especially with the introduction of Manousos who is just as dedicated to the cause it reminds us that we have to have faith and fight what may seem impossible to beat. 

I'm genuinely very excited to see where this show goes!!!!!!!!!!!! ...also yea I'm in love with Rhea Seehorn that also helps 

- KB☆