"Churchill: Walking with Destiny" by Andrew Roberts (2018)

Throughout his life, Churchill held remarkably modern, enlightened views. Many prominent figures throughout history—including the Founding Fathers—did. Enlightened views possess universality, by definition of Enlightenment.

Churchill remained consistent in his views throughout his life. This consistency is typical of great men. They perfect their views all while betting that their time will come instead of scheming how to best take advantage of prevailing political fashions.

Churchill respected tradition but challenged norms. This quality would have helped him in American politics, had he been born there.

Churchill's privileged upbringing prepared him well to thrive on adversity. Perhaps the same upbringing has also taught him what kind of adversity the British people were willing to endure and what kind they would have had none of. Only a great man can live with the enormous responsibility of choosing action over inaction: of sending his people to fight in a world war instead of surrendering. A defining feature of greatness is the willingness to accept responsibility.

Pluribus (2025)

The AI is well aligned beyond anyone's wildest expectations. And yet, in spite of its best efforts, it somehow fails to please two out of a dozen remaining humans. The two do not want communism. They even reject the interim feudalism that is lavished upon them while their joining the AI race is pending. Why refuse favours if the end is inevitable? Why not be the last glorious individual on earth? Why waste energy on resisting change instead of embracing and perfecting it?

The hive mind that is the AI race in the series can be viewed literally, as a sudden arrival in the near future, or metaphorically, as the population drawn to the LLMs that are already here.

The series is a two-part affair: the first two episodes followed by the remaining seven. Cinematography by Marshall Adams and Paul Donachie is superb. Rhea Seehorn is superb as the rather mediocre Carol Sturka. On paper, Carol's lines are dull, as is her character. Onscreen, Seehorn's character is alive and interesting, an intense one-man aggregation of the personalities that have not (yet) made it into the AI hive mind. Carol is a remarkable achievement by Seehorn and the series' directors.

Also remarkable is Karolina Wydra, who portrays Zosia, a retconned Pole (why? because her English is so pure?). The series is ultimately about them two, Carol and Zosia. It is hard to imagine a sequel adding much to the story.