Three Chinese videos

23 March 2026 · Metacrisis, Technology

I’m not exactly sure why, but various feeds have been throwing various Chinese videos my way in the last couple of weeks:

First, there was this beautiful, mesmerising dance.
Which led me to a stunning [and mildly terrifying?!] martial arts display.
And finally, a short film about the Iran War. [Original version here].

Aside from what this says about algorithms [should I be worried?!], I don’t have any particular observations to make. It would be easy to jump to conclusions - as one comment on the second video says, “This is the first public appearance of the PLA 1st Robotic Division” - but for me, this is more about continuing to open the Overton Window, and it leaves me with some questions:

What is the role of art in these times?
How narrow is my view of AI in relation to other technology?
What do/don’t I understand about ‘propaganda’?