The Future of Entertainment May Involve Hallucinogens, Suggests Netflix CEO

Are you ready for Netflix and pills?

October 26, 2016 9:00 am

If Netflix’s CEO is right, your choice about a night’s source of entertainment will eventually come down to picking betwixt the red or blue pill rather than Black Mirror or Orange Is the New Black.

While speaking with WSJD Live about why Netflix’s streaming service is so popular and what’s to come, Reed Hastings theorized “entertainment drugs” might eventually become a competitor.

According to Reed — in addition to alternatives like VR and gaming — customers looking for a “substitute” for their favorite movies and shows might turn to “pharmacological” options.

“In twenty or fifty years, taking a personalized blue pill, you just hallucinate in an entertaining way, and then a white pill brings you back to normality is perfectly viable,” he said. “If the source of human entertainment in thirty or forty years is pharmacological we’ll be in real trouble.”

We’re not sure if “we’ll” referred to Netflix or humanity in general, but, either way, he’s correct.

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