So you might be asking. What’s a TV show review doing in a blog about analytics and machine learning. Well, I just finished Altered Carbon and yes, it’s so good that I just had to write this.
The premise of the show is simple – “What if humans were immortal”. The show revolves around the creation and use of “Cortical stacks” which allow your personality and memory to be digitized and stored in a disk called a Stack which sits at the base of the neck. A Stack can be inserted in any body referred to as “Sleeves”. As long as your stack remains intact, you can be re-sleeved.
The series follows “Takeshi Kovacs” played by Joel Kinnaman and Will Yun Lee who is part of a highly trained super soldier group called CTAC (Colonial Tactical Assault Corp). The 10 episodes dive into a murder mystery with so many twists and layers to it, it’s a treat to watch. Along the way the show also manages to highlight the difference between the super rich who essentially have the means to live forever and the poor who just scrape by. It provides a lot of food for thought as to what could happen if the fundamental truth about life – that death is inevitable – is negated.
I don’t want to give away any spoilers but it’s currently on Netflix, so head on there and enjoy.