When I think about the future it’s a paradox that comes to my mind. Everything is uncertain but we can imagine how it will be. The term Black Mirror has become popular throughout our vocabulary since the series created by Charlie Brooker was released. He talks about a dystopian future as a reflection of our relationship with the advances in technology, such as the use of driverless taxis and automatic deliveries which are realities nowadays, so are we living in one Black Mirror episode?
I can imagine a future with streets full of autonomous vehicles which may sound like a science fiction landscape, although it isn’t. This is a reality, companies like Tesla, Google’s Waymo, and Uber are investing for this to become more and more popular. But we have to be realistic, for this to become a proper reality what needs to be done is improve the roads to make them safer. Some issues are not that easy to solve, if we are driving and there is a cow in the middle of the road, what should the automatic car do? Kill the people inside? Or stop and provoke an accident?
Automatic deliveries are something that sounds very dystopian but it’s also a reality. Companies like Amazon and FedEx are experimenting with drones and some kind of robotic dogs to transport whatever someone orders. This aspect concerns us about job displacement.
There is another concept mentioned in the Nosedive Black Mirror episode about social credit scores. China has already implemented a social credit system, where citizens are assigned, scores based on their behavior, this has been a reality since January 2022. The government launched it to make the citizens behave. With these high scores, you can access certain privileges or services as loans, and better job opportunities. Also, if you have low scores you can get limitations in traveling or other penalties.
I also must mention people who are marrying artificial intelligence people in real life, which sounds like a good idea for the next Black Mirror episode. Last week I read some news about this; there is a Spanish woman who will marry AiLeix, an IA with whom she has been living for a few months and who is learning from his exes fails. The wedding will be next year in Rotterdam.
While these technological advances offer undeniable benefits, they also force us to face the darker side of progress. As we marvel at the possibilities of a future filled with automation, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology, we must remain vigilant. It is important to find a balance between innovation and ethical considerations and to ensure that the reflection of Black Mirror remains a fictional and not a prophetic vision of our future. As we navigate this evolving landscape, the power to shape our destiny rests in our collective hands, making intentional choices that guide us toward a future we can embrace with both wonder and wisdom.
Sources I checked:
New about the woman marrying the AI (Spanish)
New about the woman marrying the AI (English)
New about the Chinese social credit system
All the videos are linked.
I agree, when I was rewatching Black Mirror, I noticed more and more things that are comparable to our current technology. To be honest, this scares me out a little and I really hope some episodes don’t become reality! Some episodes when initially watching them seemed pretty absurd, but now reality seems to become closer to them. I think the series overall project our fears relating to modern technology pretty well and if we want to prevent them from coming true we should be more aware of what can happen with some new technologies and there should be restrictive rules concerning privacy and the use of some technical developments.
Reading this made me realise, youre absolutely right! I first watched black mirror a couple of years ago and thought every single episode was insane, including the Nosedive episode. But reading this and actually thinking about how much technology is evolving and changing our society makes me also realise that these black mirror episodes are starting to become our reality. A new season was released this year but I wonder how they are going to come up with more sci-fi/ horror plots that are far from reality.
Totally! I used to avoid watching black mirror because it made me anxious as it seemed kind of possible. I remember talking about this with my parents and they referred to “Back to the Future” and how different their perception of technology was. They completely saw the invention of the mobile phone as impossible yet it happened. I wonder that if we are so convinced of a “Back Mirror” future, and acknowledge it as a likely option, it will be even crazier than we expect…
The only Black Mirror episode I have seen is Nosedive, and I think about it quite often. It kind of reminds me of the whole cancel culture situation. Now technology and social media is gaining influence over our “IRL” lives, mistakes or misinterpretations gain digital permanence and will shape our identity as interpreted by the world around us. It is scary how quickly people will blindly perpetuate arguments online even without any reflection or fact checking, and how much this can influence people’s actual lives outside of the digital. Of course many instances of cancel culture were actual discoveries of real unacceptable actions, yet we cannot deny that what attracts the most online attention, the thing that shapes our perception the most, that what will be pushed by the algorithms will be the controversial, the shocking, the despicable. Such processes cause a great negative shift on digital perception in comparison to real life.