They Live (1988) inspired Adblocker

(github.com)

263 points | by tokenburner 10 hours ago ago

89 comments

  • bloke_zero 26 minutes ago ago

    I wish I could upvote this 10 times! I love the film - blew my mind when I saw it on cable just after it came out.

  • riedel 4 hours ago ago

    Replacing ads reminds me of the eye tap AR stuff by Steve Mann

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44406552

  • dostick 8 hours ago ago

    Cool idea!the font weight should be extra/heavy, and not true black, dark gray.

    • kilna 4 hours ago ago

      The heavier weights of League Spartan would be a good match.

  • robot-wrangler 7 hours ago ago

    Watch it if you haven't already. I accidentally landed in the middle of it while doing some illicit late night channel surfing when I was a kid.. this left quite an impression.

    I think it was a healthy formative influence for me and primed me for rejecting fads / peer pressure, distrusting authority, etc. Probably also helped me to resist the more unhealthy aspects of a religious time/place, and I was even doing light reading on Cartesian skepticism a few years later, which got me into math. Didn't figure out the name of the movie until years later when it was a big meme.

    This is not advice but I definitely advise you to show your small children this movie before they are old enough to think it's corny. They may have a schizophrenic episode or descend into solipsism sure, but they may also get scared as hell by monsters and learn some mental judo, and thank you for it later.

    • HerbManic 6 hours ago ago

      What I find funny (only not really) is the wildly different interpretations of this film people have, for many they seem to be primed by other things to see in it what they want.

      Basically skeptical of common forms in modernity, that is very clearly the intention. However, I have also seen that in extreme far-right communities this film represents how Jewish people control the world... somehow I don't think that is what Carpenter was going for.

      Alas, once your works are in the wild it is out of the creators control in how they end up being used.

      • nraynaud 2 hours ago ago

        I have not clicked, but recently I was suggested a video whose title was more or less: “everybody thinks 1984 agrees with them”.

      • JuniperMesos 3 hours ago ago

        > Basically skeptical of common forms in modernity, that is very clearly the intention. However, I have also seen that in extreme far-right communities this film represents how Jewish people control the world... somehow I don't think that is what Carpenter was going for.

        Say what you will about claiming that the Jews secretly control the world like the aliens in the 1988 John Carpenter movie They Live, the people making this claim are certainly not obeying, conforming, or refraining from questioning authority.

        • cwillu 18 minutes ago ago

          They absolutely conform; by what mechanism do you think they all happened to pick the same bundle of labels and beliefs?

        • pjc50 2 hours ago ago

          "Say what you want about the tenets of national socialism, at least it's an ethos" -- The Big Lebowski, another influential film to many people.

          • subroutine 2 hours ago ago

            And let's also not forget that keeping wildlife, an amphibious rodent, within the city isn't legal either.

          • JuniperMesos 2 hours ago ago

            I like The Big Lebowski, it has some fun lines, but John Goodman's Walter Sobchak doesn't have a monopoly on the English phrase "Say what you will about X".

            And indeed apparently the line was in fact "say what you want about the tenets of national socialism", not "say what you will about the tenets of national socialism" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_29yvYpf4w).

            • pjc50 an hour ago ago

              The second half of the line was also relevant, since the claim of Jews controlling the world was specifically a Nazi one.

        • autoexec 2 hours ago ago

          > the people making this claim are certainly not obeying, conforming, or refraining from questioning authority.

          In my experience racists tend to just latch on to different authorities to blindly follow and obedience and conformity are even more strongly enforced. I've had long discussions with racists over the "rebel" identity they see in the confederate flag who shortly after demonstrated incredible amounts of boot-licking when it came to police. Most of the racists I've meet were very dedicated to hierarchies, a select set of social norms, old-fashioned gender roles, etc. and conformance was absolutely seen as mandatory.

          • cwillu 16 minutes ago ago

            But it's not The Federal Authorities™, so they don't think it counts as conformity.

      • robot-wrangler 5 hours ago ago

        It's interesting right? Now there's too much distrust of authority and also not enough. Even the word "skeptic" is sometimes used to refer to people who "do their own research" and doggedly latch on to wild conspiracy theories.

        Avoiding groupthink is another slightly different positive spin on (my read of) the underlying message. There's such a thing as toxic individualism too, but if there's a "bad" way to be a free-thinker then you could say it usually has a pretty limited blast radius for society in general and it isn't a contagious kind of madness either

        • pjc50 2 hours ago ago

          So.. a lot of this is "negative polarisation" combined with "exactly wrong". People see something bad happening, or come to distrust a piece of mainstream belief/reporting when it gets caught in a contradiction or turns out on subsequent evidence to be wrong. That is the healthy side of skepticism.

          The problem comes in this causing people to do one or both of:

          - immediately flip to believing the direct opposite, without evidence that's true either (most things are not excluded-middle)

          - immediately imprint on the first non-mainstream source they find and start treating it as gospel

          > but if there's a "bad" way to be a free-thinker then you could say it usually has a pretty limited blast radius for society in general and it isn't a contagious kind of madness either

          It absolutely can be contagious. Sometimes that's for the good, sometimes bad, quite often the mixed result of getting to the right place only after a fraught disruptive time. Martin Luther, originator of the listicle, was correct in a lot of the theses but also started the domino chain for some of the most lethal wars in Europe. VI Lenin was right about the problems and wrong about the solutions. And so on.

        • keybored 30 minutes ago ago

          The system isn’t static. Anti-authority is not countered by authority, or the same kind of authority. It’s countered by co-opting anti-authority.

        • qsera 5 hours ago ago

          >wild conspiracy theories.

          Do you know the difference between a conspiracy "nut", and a rational person?

          For a "conspiracy nut", understanding that there is sufficient incentive (also implies a lack of deterrent) for X to do Y is proof enough that X is doing Y.

          For a "mainstream" person, that is not enough. They require real, solid proof to consider that X is doing Y.

          Note that this is about deciding their own behavior, and not about handing capital punishment for X.

          I ll let you decide who is smarter...

          • M95D 4 hours ago ago

            A "mainstream" person can also consider past evidence of A, B and C doing Y and assume that X is doing Y too without any evidence about Y.

            • jjcob 4 hours ago ago

              "Mainstream" people will also look at past evidence that A, B and C did Y, and say something like "that was N years ago, surely nobody would do this today".

          • robot-wrangler 5 hours ago ago

            Not sure you can purely talk about "is the motivation likely?" and end up with qanon stuff. This leaves out motivated reasoning coming from the rube, plus a bunch of other things like narratives that are sufficiently fun / scandalous /surprising

          • aa-jv 3 hours ago ago

            The difference is that one follows the collective/reactive order of things, and the other doesn't.

            "Everyone knows" is the greatest conspiracy of all. Its quite possible to be a 'nut' simply by referring to what "everyone knows" ... this is a thought-stopping meme designed to end challenge to authority, since "everyone" is the ultimate authority.

          • latexr 4 hours ago ago

            > Do you know the difference between a conspiracy "nut", and a rational person?

            The former is trivially manipulated, can be made to believe anything by appealing to their inherent obvious biases, and will double down on their beliefs even when presented with irrefutable proof to the contrary. The latter can detect false dichotomies, understands answers are often nuanced instead of black and white, and is capable of changing their mind when new evidence comes to light.

          • secretsatan 4 hours ago ago

            Looking at conspiracy nuts joining ice and gleefully celebrating unidentified armed goons abducting people, i think they more likely think, well, i would do y, so they must be doing it against me.

      • Nasrudith 4 hours ago ago

        Meanwhile I've personally found myself completely unable to take it seriously due to the subliminal messages being "marry and reproduce" and "consume". Like people need sinister brainwashing to fall in love, have sex, or engage in hedonistic consumption. These are base biological urges that have existed regardless of societal economy for millennia! By casting it as something from a sinister conspiracy it makes the creator come across as someone completely insane from being so swallowed by their ideology. The sheer ridiculousness of it it brings to mind the "Mortal Engines" series and its incredibly dumb basic premise and the critical panning that it received. The lesson being, that just because something is an allegory or metaphor doesn't prevent it from being so incredibly stupid that it completely derails the message it is trying to send. Imagine if the billboards instead said.

        I recognize that this is certainly a minority view given how influential the film is. But I just plain cannot unsee it, like a Lovecraftian revelation and that ruins it for me from the start. Short of thinking Jodie Foster is talking to you through screens, it is very hard to look like an outright unhinged anti-Reaganist given the many legitimate things to object to about the man and his policies. Even if you agree with some of it, you can easily see where others would reasonably disagree. But this 'basic urges are part of a sinister conspiracy' sort of message? This managed to do it.

        • aa-jv 3 hours ago ago

          Yes, thats the point of the movie - human beings' most banal desires can be and are weaponized against them.

          That you reject the entire premise of the movie because you can't "get over" this particular aspect, just means you've got your own loaded revolver in your pocket.

        • MagicMoonlight 3 hours ago ago

          If it was a basic biological function then the marketing department wouldn’t exist.

          • autoexec 2 hours ago ago

            Consumption and love/sex are things we tend to do naturally, but marketing just ramps it up to a level we probably wouldn't reach if we weren't forced or manipulated into it. Just about anybody can fall in love, but marketing can pressure you into thinking that not falling in love and being with someone means you've failed at life and marketing can fill with you anxiety if you aren't in love, or haven't had sex, or you've had sex too early, or not early enough, or not often enough, etc. Naturally they've got all kinds of things to sell you to help.

            • JuniperMesos 2 hours ago ago

              Of all the phenomena in modern life a person might have anxiety about, the kinds of sex they are having (or not having) seem like the thing most relatable to their hunter-gatherer ancestors tens of thousands of years ago, long before the invention of marketing.

        • tokenburner 42 minutes ago ago

          > marry and reproduce

          I left that out deliberately, as I think they are a good thing

          Yes, I am aware of the irony of trying to manipulate people via messages

      • huijzer 4 hours ago ago

        > extreme far-right communities

        Extreme libertarian seems a more apt description for those groups since they severely distrust government often also criticizing Trump and Netanyahu for example.

        • secretsatan 2 hours ago ago

          A lot of them are very concerned about restricting the rights of others

    • riffraff 6 hours ago ago

      My dad pitched this movie to me when I was a kid, as he was a Carpenter fan.

      Beyond the somewhat "obvious" message (for a grown up) it's just an eminently entertaining movie.

    • shrubby 6 hours ago ago

      Nice pitch. I'll stream it right away!

      I've been watching Andor as a instructional manual recently and this seems like a good addition to the reality based manuals out there.

      Idiocracy, War INC etc.

    • keybored 40 minutes ago ago

      What do they say about those who see through ideology.

    • flomo 5 hours ago ago
      • geek_at 4 hours ago ago

        Seems not to be available in europe "The uploader has not made this video available in your country"

    • Joel_Mckay 5 hours ago ago
  • khafra 2 hours ago ago

    Should be able to use the local LLM to generate a short "They Live" style phrase based on the content of the ad.

  • akkartik 6 hours ago ago

    I never found the Matrix very impressive, because I'd been inoculated by this movie.

  • throwaway2037 3 hours ago ago

    For any one not familiar with this cult classic film from the 1980s, you can view the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeB3vdxF_jM

    In short, aliens have invaded earth, but wear a special skin to appear human. To average people, they appear and sound identical to real humans. The lead character discovers that special sunglasses can show the aliens without their human-like skin. (They look a bit like the aliens from "Mars Attacks".) When wearing the sunglasses, most outdoor adverts are replaced with bland single-party-state-style propaganda encouraging people to consume, work hard, and follow the rules.

    I can honestly say that the trailer does no justice for the film. It is much better than the trailer. When I saw first saw this, I was genuinedly spooked. One half of the film is good fun 1980s alien invasion beat 'em up, and the other half is a thoughtful commentary on the age of consumerism.

    • euroderf 3 hours ago ago

      I'd say it's got more than a bit of documentary, considering current progress in terraforming.

      • whynotmaybe 23 minutes ago ago

        And the massive irony that it the clothing brand "Obey".

    • yard2010 3 hours ago ago

      There is a good video that this cool philosopher made, I can't remember the name.. zazik?

      Edit: Slavoj Žižek. As always, phenomenal and humble take.

      "I’m already eating from the trashcan all the time, the name of this trashcan is... ideology"

      Slavoj Žižek on "They Live" (The Pervert's Guide to Ideology) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVwKjGbz60k

      • g6taa 2 hours ago ago

        Slavoj Žižek ?

  • tlhunter 7 hours ago ago

    My personal tagline, "I came here to kick ass, build web applications, and chew bubble gum. And I'm all out of gum." came from this movie.

    • DeathArrow 6 hours ago ago

      And Duke Nukem.

      • hnlmorg 4 hours ago ago

        That “kick ass & chew gum” line has been hugely borrowed, reused and parodied many times throughout the following decades since the release of this movie.

        In fact the whole movie is almost a parody of itself now due to how many scenes have since become a meme.

    • sdenton4 5 hours ago ago

      I came here to kick ass and deploy microservices... And I'm all out of ass.

      • GCUMstlyHarmls 5 hours ago ago

        I came here to shitpost and deploy microservices... and github is down.

  • minisini 7 hours ago ago

    I LOVE for someone to make a version of this for Apple Vision Pro. In fact I would put down $500.

    • rickdeckard 3 hours ago ago

      A $500 app for those $1000+ glasses which shuts people off from reality and create the impression for others that they look into their eyes (while in fact looking at a rendering of your eyes).

      There's some irony in here somewhere...

    • HerbManic 6 hours ago ago

      If AR ever makes it big, I think we have the first ad blocking idea already fleshed out. Would be kind of fun to see.

  • specproc 2 hours ago ago

    I came here to block ads and chew bubble gum.

    • ZeljkoS 7 minutes ago ago

      And I am all out of bubble gum.

  • deng 5 hours ago ago

    Oh the irony: "They Live", a movie famously about alienation and dehumanization, and you let AI do all the coding.

    • gchamonlive 38 minutes ago ago

      Are you writing code in a computer instead of using pen and paper? Preposterous!

    • xnx 5 hours ago ago

      Interacting with a computer in natural language is much more human than typing in special codes and punctuation.

      • deng 5 hours ago ago

        So telling someone to make a table for you is more human than making it yourself, because you're using natural language instead of saws and hand planes?

        • gchamonlive 40 minutes ago ago

          > telling someone to make a table for you is more human than making it yourself

          That's a bad comparison. You have to compare crafting a table manually to doing it via CNC.

        • GCUMstlyHarmls 5 hours ago ago

          I would say yes, conversing between two humans, maybe even collaborating, is more human than a solitary human using inanimate objects.

          • spacebacon 2 hours ago ago

            Basket weaving is more human than conversation. Language is entry level artificial man.

          • anthk 3 hours ago ago

            Even if the table collapses down badly instead of doing a proper one with a good set of tools?

      • speed_spread 3 hours ago ago

        The human world is full of special codes and obscure gestures that only have meaning if provided in the right sequence to the right people. Computer programming being documented and formalized makes it more accessible than many social circles.

    • dang 5 hours ago ago

      What if it wouldn't get done otherwise?

      (Genuine question as we're all trying to figure this shit out)

      • tokenburner an hour ago ago

        It wouldn't have. I put this off for 11 years, the joke wasn't worth the manual effort required

        AI is amazing at jumping into an unfamiliar codebase, it was probably 20 mins total work

      • deng 4 hours ago ago

        I think we can agree that this is not something anybody will actually use, but rather an homage to "They Live", and IMHO, letting this be done by AI is in contrast to the basic premise of the movie.

        • tokenburner an hour ago ago

          The joke wasn't worth 10+ hours manual work

        • andai 3 hours ago ago

          What's the premise of the movie? I thought it was about psyops.

          (Also interdimensional shapeshifting reptilians.)

        • dolebirchwood 4 hours ago ago

          That argument could be taken to any extreme at the end of the day. They Live, at its core, is a commentary on unrestrained capitalism. You could fault OP for using a Google browser. You could fault OP for using a Microsoft cloud repository. The line may be blurrier than one thinks...

          • deng 2 hours ago ago

            Any argument can be taken to any extreme. This is why it's a popular rhetorical tactic, called "appeal to extremes".

            • darkwater 2 hours ago ago

              So, why did you use it in this case?

              • deng 2 hours ago ago

                So you consider calling something "ironic" an extreme position? On a more general note, you will find that many people are uncomfortable with the idea that AI will replace human work, especially when it relates to art, which this project in question references.

                • darkwater 2 hours ago ago

                  But there are many more tech things we take for granted that could be seen as ironic as well. I think I never saw this movie but being a young adult and an Internet nerd in the late '90s early -00s I remember perfectly how many people were negatively discussing it because it was dehumanizing, destroying personal relationships in flesh and a long etc. And while the future turned out to be not so good as some early adopter thought, it also never turned into something so bleak as detractors said it would.

                  And I think the same will apply here, with GenAI.

      • ori_b an hour ago ago

        We'd all be better off for it. I don't want you to take a shit on the table and call it dinner.

      • d3ng 4 hours ago ago

        I think this is false dichotomy. It's been a while since actually empowering and encouraging humans was considered normal and attempted at scale. But not that long. How quick we forget. I think it's worth getting back to.

  • anthk 3 hours ago ago

    UBo Lite pales against the original UBo, it doesn't matter if it's a cool fork.

  • xnx 5 hours ago ago

    An idea probably as old as ad blockers themselves. Here's one from 8 years ago: https://imgur.com/i-wear-sunglasses-night-uF4fy42

  • iririririr 5 hours ago ago

    on the same line, but less pop meme replacements

    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/artificial-cl...

    it replaces terms used to exalt Artificial Intelligence to what they really mean, and some tongue in cheek jokes against things that are used to pass billionaires/tech as friendly (e.g. replacing bill gates with his actual name)

    • autoexec 2 hours ago ago

      "Automated Incompetence" is probably better than "Artificial Incompetence" since the incompetence is 100% real.

    • logicprog 3 hours ago ago

      That's so obnoxiously stupid and annoying, wow.

      • ares623 an hour ago ago

        That's how most people feel when presented slop btw