2023 Movie Talk: The Other Side of the Door

It was only after a long, long time that I began to understand—in the sorrow of the last emperor, “the last” far outweighs “the emperor.” When the whip of history drives forward, it does not stop lashing because of the traveler’s identity; it simply, monotonously repeats the actions of closing and opening doors, always ready to close the next one.

History has no emotions; the suffering and happiness of life merely push people forward, adding fuel to an indifferent flame. This carriage does not care who is outside, brushing off the rising dust, even though those lingering outside were once the masters of the carriage.

This “door” is the spokesperson of history in the film, embodying the dual meanings of “connection and separation.”

• It is majestic, for we cannot see the other side of the era;
• It is stern, capable of isolating a person at the end of an era;
• It is merciful, allowing everyone to sense the possibility of crossing over.

• The Last Emperor—the noblest person, the one who cannot catch up, the door that cannot be opened;
• Suzume—the distance between death and everyday life is just a door;
• The Whale—does the self-saver have the courage to cross the threshold of sorrow?

It’s just that during this period, I abruptly watched a series of movies, all of which involved doors, so much so that when I began to look back, a tall door always appeared before my eyes. And the reality of the siege, the surge of artificial intelligence, feels like another opening and closing of a door, leaving people from two eras staring at each other. If the wise have already sensed the existence of the door, what would they say about their own powerlessness?

Perhaps only when a person passes through doors of various shapes and sizes can they get closer to the door of history, but they will also be blocked by the next door they cannot pass through.

Just a sigh: In the vastness of life, we are but fleeting travelers.

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By the way: They say this AI is the next industrial revolution. Although I use GPT very happily, I still have doubts. Because an industrial revolution requires an energy revolution as its foundation, and currently, GPT Plus is constantly shrinking and halting sales due to reaching a bottleneck in computing power. 5G is strong, but the cost of materials greatly limits its spread. Without an energy revolution, AI’s computing power is insufficient, which greatly restricts its potential.

Also, everything about AI is currently in the experimental stage, like Go. AI has not brought much displacement; the industries it has spawned are mostly tools. Recently, the most popular thing is that a simple bug can defeat KATAgo by exploiting a small weakness, showing that once a bug in AI is found, it can paralyze everything. Therefore, AI can only be a tool. For example, no matter how much autonomous vehicle technology develops, as long as the road shape remains unchanged, it will never pass review. Language models are only a part of intelligence, and it is hard to say directly that they can surpass humans.