Friedberg describes pervasive techno-pessimism where every technology is framed as having a negative angle.
“Everyone thinks that technology always has a catch. There's always something bad emerging. Robots are gonna kill us all. AI is gonna wipe out human civilization. Nuclear power is gonna melt down and destroy neighborhoods.”
Friedberg observes that Netflix shows and movies that resonate most are ones focused on things going wrong.
“You watch all the shows on Netflix, you watch all the movies, Aaron Brockovich, like the ones that work, the ones that seem to resonate, which means that's what people truly kind of want, are the ones that talk about things gone wrong,”
Friedberg asks if techno-optimist content is changing mainstream attitudes or just capturing a niche audience.
“your show is quite different and you talk about what if things go right, why do you think that is resonating and are we changing or is it Are you kind of capturing a small audience and the bigger one still sort of techno pessimistic?”