When I speak to my students about emerging and future media technology, I often refer to episodes of “Black Mirror” – a series that paints a scary portrait of new technology evolving to the point of harming people.
A first episode that remains with me is “the whole story of you” of the first season. The premise is as follows: everything you have seen or heard is recorded by a tiny implant called “grain”, allowing you to replay your memories, or even show them to others.
Scott McDaniel, assistant professor of journalism at the Franklin College.
At the start of the episode, a man replayed an exchange of performance review earlier in his return, living what was said. It is relatable. We have all had moments – both good and bad – which we rethink and surface.
But then, he began to obsess his wife at that time, laughing a little too much about the joke of another man who was not so funny. Jealous, he looks at him again and again, even forcing the nanny to look at and give his opinion. It is starting to feel a little maniac, but his insecurity is human.
I show a clip of the class episode and ask the students: “Do you think that technology could never go so far – re -record your life through your eyes?” When they inevitably shake the head no, my next slide is in queue, ready to show them the opposite.
A quick search on Google shows companies like Sony, Mojo Vision and Xpanceo have been working on smart contact lenses for years, all with the same goal: to record what you see.
This is what makes the “black mirror” so fascinating – and so scary. It’s not just science fiction. If someone imagined it, someone else probably tries to build it.
Season 7 fell on Netflix this month, and this continues the tradition of social comments from the show on our culture obsessed with technology – what “could lead us.
The first episode of the new season, “Common People”, explores the greed of a medical technology startup that has been extended to life called Rivermind Technologies. When a brain tumor threatens the life of a teacher by the name of Amanda (Rashida Jones), a representative of Rivermind tells her husband Mike (Chris O’Dowd) of the new technology which can replace the cerebral fabric surgically removed by a synthetic fabric and keep it alive by essentially diffusing his brain copied from a server.
Better yet, the procedure is free – there is only one monthly subscription afterwards. It is expensive, but life has the impression of returning to normal, until Amanda begins to spring up involuntarily from advertisements at random moments. They rush to the Rivermind office and learn that advertising people in his brain will be part of their lives now, unless they want to go to the more expensive plan.
It looks like a boost for streaming services like Netflix itself. You don’t want any ads? Pay more. Do you want to take advantage of your service elsewhere? It will cost more.
It is the greed of companies to its best, the company showing no remorse on high charges or on the fact that not paying the bill will end the service of Amanda – and its life.
What interesting song of science fiction, right? Bad – Researchers have been able to send and receive brain signals via the Internet for more than a decade now. This episode is another which seems uncomfortably plausible.
Episode four, “Playser”, imagines a style video game from the 1990s that looks a bit like “The Sims” mixed with these virtual pocket animals from the 90s that you have nourished and that you have taken care of – except creatures inside this game are sensitive forms of life, fueled by digital consciousness.
This is called “Thonglets”. The player takes care of creatures as they evolve, learn and ultimately want autonomy. This seems fun until the lack of backups allows them to become too powerful, breaking our world.
Netflix even created a mobile game called “Thonglets”, imitating the game of history. Scary.
This episode suggests the hypothetical concept of general artificial intelligence (AG) – AI which becomes so advanced and self -sufficient, it no longer depends on us, and could even decide that he no longer needs us. And to the rhythm that AI advances, a story like the “bottlenecks” is particularly worrying.
But not all episodes are misfortune and gloom. “Eulogy” is a sweet story with Paul Giamatti as a bitter and lonely man named Phillip, who receives a mysterious package which allows him to literally get into photographs of his past, bringing back long -term memories.
Technology allows a user to review old memories to find new truths. There is an intimate nostalgia by exploring the photos, and the conclusion of the episode is beautifully tragic.
I will not spoil the other new episodes, but the technology in which they plunged is quite wild – and the craziest part? Who knows – he could hit shelves near you earlier than you think.