Human beings don't like change But one thing we do love is...Innovation
The shiny, the new, the aesthetically pleasing, the forward thinking...
It can mesmerize and dazzle us into accepting its promise of self-betterment.
We willfully invite it into our lives and let it follow our daily routine no matter
how menial...no matter how intimate.
Without realising it's slowly involving itself in every decision we make.
A trojan horse of comfort.
No longer a novel appendix but an extension of who we are
We let ourselves go to the cold dark void of ones and zeros
A Black Mirror... modifying our identity.
Black Mirror is not meant to be anti-technology series.
Neither is it a cautionary tale meant to preach about what you should or shouldn't do.
Charlie Brooker (the show's creator), a self-proclaimed "neurotic person", often thinks of unsettling
"what if" scenarios involving technology and how it can affect us.
Whereas "The Twilight Zone" often explored social issues hidden behind supernatural metaphors,
"Black Mirror" focuses on heightened realities, that show our growing dependency on technology.
They're stories set in our world or in a very close future, which is why we can relate to
them so easily and feel dread when things start going terribly wrong.
Because we know that as far-fetched as some of the stories are, an extent of them could
very well happen or in certain cases, it's already happening.
In today's video we're going to examine the recurring themes in Black Mirror that question
our relationship with technology and what it reveals about our human nature.
-Lip read reconstruction enabled -Hey, it's good to see you.
-Good to see you too.
-I was nervous when I heard you were going to be here...It's weird isn't it?
Throughout the series we see instances of characters using technology to their own detriment.
A collection of horror stories that make us worry about our own future.
But if you notice correctly, most of the devices and gizmos are not the cause of the characters
ailments.
Because these applications are only tools.
They were made with the best intentions to facilitate the characters' lives.
In doing so, they also open a door, enabling the worst parts in people by amplifying their
negative behaviours.
In "The Entire History Of You", we are introduced to a device called the Grain.
It's an implant that allows you to record every single thing you've ever seen or heard.
Never being able to forget little details, having the ability to revisit every past interaction
or event.
In the episode, the main character Liam is taken over by his worst impulses when he notices
his wife is being too friendly with one of the party guests.
He starts revisiting all her reactions, looks and laughs, every subtle body language from
the evening and from past years, convinced there is something wrong with their relationship.
-Spot the difference.
-Your drunk.
-I'm the difference.
-He's the greatest guy in the world and then I arrive and... you clam.
His curiosity devolves into an obsession as he slowly starts believing his wife has been
unfaithful.
In "Arkangel" a similar implant gives an overprotective mother the opportunity to control what is
acceptable for her child to see, under the guise of it being for her daughter's welfare.
The mother starts blocking anything she judges to be violent or obscene and causes her child
to miss out on basic coping skills that hinder her development.
-You can't remove the implant, but you can get rid of the parental unit.
- The screen just throw it away...
In "Be Right Back", Martha's reluctance to let go of her deceased boyfriend Ash compels
her to have a virtual version of him created through his digital footprint.
Instant messaging and phone conversations give way to a synthetic body that replicates
the boyfriend's looks and behaviors, based on his social media profiles.
-You look like him...on a good day.
-The photos we keep tend to be flattering...I guess wasn't any different.
But even when noticing that the android lacks the spark that Ash had, Martha can't bring
herself to dispose of this physical amalgamation of her past memories.
Because just like us, there are certain things we feel we just can't let go of.
Be it a moment of jealousy, our children or a past relationship.
Technology serves as a tempting tool for our own insecurities.
One of the great advancements of this age is the ability to interact with more people
than ever before.
How one thought can be planted into the digital landscape, grow and spread out to a like minded
audience.
But as much as we can't control its growth, we can't control its influence.
In the first episode of the series, we witness how public opinion pressures the British prime
minister to commit an act of bestiality on live television
-It's not going to happen!
-To the public.
-FUCK the public!
-To the public this would be one manor of, to be blunt, questionable popularity, putting
personal embarrassment over the life of a young girl.
-He won't even release her anyway.
She's probably already dead!
and in The Waldo Moment it leads the people to ultimately elect a meme-like cartoon as
their new leader.
Public opinion is even used as currency in Nosedive, a world where every interaction
is rated like an augmented social media page.
The only way to move up in the world, get a good house or benefits is to become a very
clean, sterilized and filtered version of yourself.
If you do something to upset this, then you get downvoted into social oblivion.
Black Mirror also pushes this to the extreme by exploring what happens when this hive mentality
is weaponized.
In "White Bear" a woman must endure a daily punishment for a brutal crime she committed
and then have her memory wiped for the following day.
Her punishment serves as a theme park where people come over to make her life a living
hell day after day.
The participants indulge in the punishment for their own satisfaction.
Annabel Jones, one of the showrunners stated: "we're all citizen journalists now so we can
absolve ourselves of any responsibility or emotional engagement."
"The focus is very much on how we bring people to justice and what outrages we can do if
we feel we're morally justified."
Our self-righteous vengeance can blind us to do inhuman things.
"Shut Up and Dance" expands on the want for collective vengeance but in a more subtle
way.
We follow a character being coerced into an elaborate scavenger hunt.
The victims in the episode are in no way innocent, but in the hacker's eyes, their guilt justifies
the nature of the hunt.
That disconnect and false safety of being behind a computer screen or behind a camera
phone, is explored as well in "Hated In The Nation".
In the episode, people who have done questionable acts are targeted by a social media hashtag.
It's part of what's called a "game of consequences".
Whoever has the most #DeathTo tweets at the end of the day will be killed.
People play the game, enacting their own social justice, disregarding the fact that real lives
are at stake.
The impersonal nature of technology makes it easier to hop on a bandwagon.
We can let our outrage be aided by technology without thinking of the real
human consequences.
And we don't have to face any immediate accountability for our actions.
-Would you like me to put some food on?
-Do you eat?
-No, I mean I don't need to.
I can chew and swallow if that makes it easier.
It wasn't too long ago that technology was sedentary and waited for us in designated
areas limiting our access to it.
But now it's become as dynamic as we are, following us wherever we go.
Black Mirror examines what happens when the line between human and digital is finally
blurred out but not simply as technology being implanted onto us...but how we freely integrate
ourselves to technology.
At first this progression is slow and based on giving away small tasks that we no longer
want to do for the sake of our own convenience.
"White Christmas" presents this concept in the form of a cookie.
It's basically a copy of your consciousness uploaded unto a program that controls everything
in your house.
A type of "Alexa" that is an artificial you, made to serve you.
It has your memories, your emotions, your knowledge...but it's simply made to carry
out basic tasks like knowing how to make your toast.
-See?
This is your job now.
You're in charge of everything... here.
In Hang the DJ we see technology used for a more important goal.
It's a way for us to avoid all the unpleasant moments of dating or being in a relationship.
-So much simpler when it's all mapped out.
An app runs multiple simulations with virtual versions of ourselves to find a perfect romantic
match.
But the more important the task we hand over to our devices the more dependant we become
of them.
Like in Be Right Back where a replica of a human being is created so the main character
can avoid feeling grief.
-The more it has the more it's him.
-It won't be...
-No, it's not...but it helps.
San Junipero takes this to another extreme as we see a heaven type simulation where people
can fully merge their consciousness to the cloud and live beyond their human limits.
Presenting an optimistic view that human progression is tied harmoniously to technology.
But Charlie Brooker also presents us a pessimistic outlook where technology would have no need
for us.
In Metal Head we see a group of people trying to escape a lethal pack of advanced AI robots.
They are being hunted down and ultimately outmaneuvered.
A future where humans are no longer part of the equation and our progression is surpassed
by our creation.
-Can you remember where you were before you came here?
You can't can you...
-No...
-Me neither.
-Why can't I think of that?
The last theme that is explored is the most troubling.
It's not about our negative behaviours or how close we are becoming to technology but
how we might not truly grasp the nature of our own reality.
Episodes like Playtest and Men Against Fire lead the main characters to question their
surroundings, no longer being able to tell the difference between what is real or what
is virtual.
In Playtest it's a person unsure of being trapped inside of a game and in Men Against
Fire it's a soldier being fed a false reality to keep him under control.
In White Christmas and USS Callister, we see artificial replicas stuck in a virtual world
questioning their own existence.
-I don't want to be in here.
I don't want to be in here...I don't want to be in here!
If they share the same memories, emotions and consciousness as their original counterpart...then
what does that say about their humanity?
But one example that hints at a more worrisome scenario is Bandersnatch.
A game developer that starts doubting his own free will and has to live through different
iterations for our own entertainment.
-Like I'm not in control.
-Of?
-Anything.
Little things tiny decisions: what I have for breakfast in the morning, what music I
listen to, whether I shout at dad.
A metaphor for an unsettling thought.
That solidifies itself with every new technological advancement.
If we can create something that can fool our mind...then who says we haven't been fooled
already?
What if the world we see, the world we know...is a simulation?
Not like one that we could ever make but a cosmic simulation beyond our own understanding.
With rules we don't know and a goal we ignore.
And our efforts for advancements are only a way to reverse engineer the unknown
Redefining what we find every time we take a long look into the Black Mirror.
Thank you for taking the time to watch our video.
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Until next time.