What Does “Black Mirror” Say About Humanity
The Netflix original series “Black Mirror” has caused a lot of unwanted anxiety among its viewers. The show notoriously picks apart how society and technology interact with each other with a pessimistic twist. Every episode is a stand alone, meaning that each episode is its own story. Each episode is a dark take on technology that isn't far from the realm of possibility.
Season 4 was released on December 29th, 2017 and the episodes had a horror theme revolving around artificial intelligence technology. One episode called “Black Museum” is a take on how humans abuse technology in vain. The episode features the owner of the museum, Rolo Haynes, imprisons people inside a cyborg device. Visitors of the museum can view these trapped souls and also inflict pain on the holograms. “Finally, Rolo captures the consciousness of a death-row inmate, charging museum visitors to “electrocute” his hologram.” (Poniewozik, 2017).
This episode makes multiple references to other “Black Mirror” episodes from previous seasons. The episode is particularly important because it takes psychology and technology and shows how these can be abused. “Black Mirror” may seem like a science-fiction show but it is rarely far from the truth. “...giving people power over eternal consciousness would turn ordinary sadists into digital Satans.” (Poniewozik, 2017). This idea is not new. There are a lot of famous psychological studies that show technology can alter our sense of consciousness especially towards inflicting pain.
The show is heavily influenced by advances in technology but it focuses on how people interact with these advances. “Rather, the series assumes that people — enough people anyway — will look at any new device the way a terrorist looks at a truck or a boxcutter, with an eye toward the damage they can do with it.” (Poniewozik, 2017). This may seem like a dark observation of humanity assuming that most people have ill intent but its not far fetched.
An episode that explains this concept is “Crocodile”. In the episode there is a device that lets you see people's memories as a live video feed. A criminal uses this device to find the family of a person investigating him and kill the family of the investigator. This is an extreme example with a technology that won't exist for a long time but the idea is not new. People use GPS to stalk other people, this episode just shines a new light on this.
“Black Mirror” obviously has a dark view on the future of technology. It has an even darker view on the future of humanity. The show has gained a massive fanbase over its 4 seasons. Some people like the shows because it is just a good show while other like it for what it says about media and society. Regardless of how a person watches “Black Mirror” it will definitely leave them seconding guessing every piece of technology they use. Personally I think the show may go a little too far sometimes but always keeps the plot relatively simple. It is a great way to reflect on the possible while staying entertaining.
Poniewozik, J. (2017, December 30). Free Your Mind? 'Black Mirror' Isn't Too Hopeful. The New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2018, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/arts/television/black-mirror-season-4-netflix.html