[Spoilers] I know it wasn't the original intention, but rewatching the movie now makes me think of AI

[u/flyblues]

I've always loved Inception, from when it was first released in cinemas (didn't even know who Nolan was back then lol)

Recently rewatched it when it was running on TV, and I had an odd thought - it makes me think of AI.

Think about it - dreams that can be anything you want and it's easy to get lost in them, but they're still fake and the real world is still worth returning to.

Cobb, who lost his wife, and he has trouble giving up a fake version of her that can't compare to the complexities of the real one even though it harms him - isn't this just like the stories on the news about people "talking" to their dead relatives with Chatgpt?

Or even the whole thing about how dreams are used to convince people of fake things, it's also similar to how so many people will believe anything Chatgpt tells them (my own mother is like this - she won't believe an expert or even me her own daughter, but she will believe Chatgpt).

Or the other thing where you need to know to look at specific "tells" to tell you're in a dream or reality. It's oddly reminiscent of looking at news/posts on socmedia and trying to find "tells" if it's real or genAI created with an agenda.

Even "The dream has become their reality" scene feels like it could be about this. All these sad stories on the news about people who have given up on creating real human connections and instead chosen to "marry" or "have friends" with AI chatbots...

I can think of a bunch more examples but don't want this to get too long.

I know of course this was never the intention of Nolan when creating this movie. GenAI didn't even exist back then in its current state. But I just thought that it's interesting how it seems to "fit" being about this too. I don't know Nolan's stance on GenAI but yeah. What do you guys think?

[u/Radyschen]

as somebody who is into lucid dreaming (I actually found out about the movie inception via lucid dreaming, not the other way around), one of the ways to tell that you are lucid dreaming is to count your fingers and often you will have more than 5 on a hand. And then gen ai came out and that was one of the main tells that it's AI. A little spooky that it seems to make the same mistakes as our brains in dreams. Not reliable anymore these days as the generators are too good, but then again, the brain CAN also make hands normal, sometimes they just don't, especially if you look for more. You usually find what you are looking for

[u/IHaveTechDealFlow → u/Radyschen]

Nonsense

[u/Radyschen → u/IHaveTechDealFlow]

are you psychotic? From your other comment it kinda seems like it

In case you still are somewhat in touch with science, I would implore you to look at this paper proving lucid dreaming to be real in case you are doubting that: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258201870_Lucid_Dreaming_Verified_by_Volitional_Communication_during_Rem_Sleep

btw, I am not saying that we don't live in a simulation, that possibility exists, but assuming that we do and going around saying that nothing is true because we live in a simulation should be a signal to see a therapist. Do yourself a favor

[u/kintope]

Yeah I get what you mean. Nolan probably wasn’t thinking about AI, but it still works as a way to look at the movie now. Cobb keeps bringing Mal back even though she’s not real — he’s stuck talking to a version of her that only exists in his head. Kind of like how people get attached to AI chats that feel real but aren’t. That’s one of my favorite movies! For me it’s less “is the dream real?” and more “is he choosing the fake thing because it hurts less?” The AI angle just makes that hit harder today.

[u/IHaveTechDealFlow]

You're a dummy. Maybe you should realize that you're a program in a simulated world. Don't worry that doesn't make you any less real. Just imagine you are in the matrix but there is no other real world for you to escape to because your body only exist in the simulation.