The Luxury of Being Obsolete
A humorous yet bittersweet reflection on the way in which internet and digital culture have profoundly shaped our lives over the past two decades.
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Synopsis
While a solitary figure slowly inflates a plastic palm tree, various scenes unfold on the summery green plains.
A businessman on vacation calls his mother to ask if she can ‘like’ a photo of his girlfriend. A group of tourists stand in line to film a local internet phenomenon with their phones. A marketing team brainstorms the ideal way to position their new product online. A young woman reflecting on her recent firing, coming to terms with the fact that an AI now performs her job more efficiently. A man with a leaking watering can nervously navigates a job interview, struggling to keep up in a world that’s moving far too quickly for him.
Meanwhile, the solitary figure has sought solace in alcohol. When he reappears, completely drunk, he finds no support from his plastic palm tree. Theme
From subtly infiltrating our social interactions to redefining our leisure activities and relentlessly harvesting the data we create, the internet has been feeding on us. Now, with the rise of generative AI, it seems closer than ever to swallow us whole.
But what happens when the dream we helped inflate no longer needs us to sustain itself?
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