Why is Netflix investing $900 million into building new production studios in New Jersey? Artificial intelligence is rapidly rendering traditional filmmaking methods obsolete. The need for physical sets, actors, and all the expensive machinery of production is about to evaporate. We are living through the twilight of these once-indispensable components of Hollywood’s dominance. With AI developing at a pace that borders on terrifying, it won’t be long before the average citizen—yes, the sort who currently films cat videos and posts TikToks—will have access to tools capable of producing feature-length films that rival or even surpass today’s most polished blockbusters.
"Enjoy your new studios in New Jersey, Netflix. Build them tall and wide, make them gleam with the promise of productivity. But know this: the future does not belong to you. It belongs to the millions of creators who will soon hold in their own hands the power that once belonged to Hollywood, asking not for permission but for the bandwidth to upload their creations."
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With NY Times columnist and pseudo-economist Paul Krugman announcing his retirement this week, I thought we might revisit this article from a few years ago, where we highlighted his five dumbest statements. The article is in the comments section, but if you want the short version, the five dumbest statements were:
1998: Krugman predicted the Internet would have no greater impact on businesses than the fax machine.
2002: Krugman claimed the Enron scandal would have a greater impact on American life than 9/11.
2002: Krugman said the Federal Reserve should deliberately create a housing bubble.
2006: Krugman praised the Veterans Health Administration as an example of how great government-run healthcare is.
2013: Krugman argued that the United States should print a $1 trillion coin to pay the national deficit, and that it would not cause inflation.
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By pardoning Hunter Biden, the president has not only shielded his son from accountability but also opened a Pandora’s box of moral and legal dilemmas. If Hunter Biden’s offenses — tax fraud, firearm possession by a drug user, and influence peddling — are deemed unworthy of prosecution, then how do we justify the prosecution of these or similar offenses committed by other Americans? Will the president now extend this newfound clemency to those languishing in prison for analogous crimes, who lack the privilege of powerful advocates or familial ties to the Oval Office? Of course not. They’re not special like his dear, precious Hunter.
The pardon power, as enshrined in the Constitution, is a curious relic of monarchy, a vestige of the divine right of kings to temper justice with mercy. It is, by design, discretionary, a tool to correct miscarriages of justice, to soften the blunt edge of the law where circumstances warrant, or to offer redemption where rehabilitation has been achieved. What it should never become, and yet inevitably did become, is a private indulgence. To pardon Hunter Biden while leaving thousands of similarly convicted citizens to languish is not an act of mercy but of privileged favoritism, a nepotistic perversion of justice that undermines the very foundations of equality before the law.
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