> The unification of government data on citizens under DOGE and the push to use AI for surveillance under an authoritarian government bring us far closer to the plot of Winter Soldier than the bread and butter surveillance capitalism we'd already been living under.
I never disagreed with this point.
My comment was only about the point that Winter Soldier "doesn't get enough credit." My point was that setting was not just "not novel" but already common place. Meaning Winter Soldier does not stand out as a unique representation. I want to stress "not a unique representation" != "not a representation".
It sounds like you're saying the setting was already commonplace in fictional media? But you don't reference such representations in your prior comment at all.
At any rate, while themes of technological surveillance and authoritarianism certainly predate Winter Soldier, I'm not aware of anything in popular culture prior to 2014 that really matches the moment _to the degree_ Winter Soldier does. And if you simply meant the actual state of America circa 2014, sure, Palantir existed, but DOGE and an authoritarian-controlled US military institution did not. ML, yes, but not the quasi-AGI of today that's a much closer match for the computerized Arnim Zola.
My comment was only about the point that Winter Soldier "doesn't get enough credit." My point was that setting was not just "not novel" but already common place. Meaning Winter Soldier does not stand out as a unique representation. I want to stress "not a unique representation" != "not a representation".