How fast is technology? Technology moves faster like the strike of a lightning. Mobile devices upgrading, security systems, apps to make you more comfortable, and things that most likely get you to move less—everything is just instant.
Remember the Netflix television series Black Mirror by Charlie Brooker? It gets scary as you come to think how technology rises and make impact in human beings. This sci-fi anthology is made up of stand-alone dramas that feature sharp and satirical tales that explore technology and tech-paranoia.
Fifteen Million Merits
This episode shows that technology is all over the place. People use touchless screens, everything is so advanced. People are plunged to the world to earn their “merits” by riding a stationary bicycle. The merits were substitute for currency in which people will be allowed to use to purchase food and goods.
This is kind of weird thinking that if this will happen in real life, people are going to be so obsessed riding around bikes thinking they can earn more never minding consequences. This concept is taking off as inventors and people are creating technologies that use kinetic energy generated by humans to create electricity solutions.
The Entire History of You
This tackles the danger of uncovering the past through recorded memories. The protagonist, Liam Foxwell, lives in a world in which people have chips implanted behind their ears. The implant gets weird as it has access and records everything from what the user sees and hear, which also allows them to play their memories back using their eyes through a monitor.
In 2020, Elon Musk developed a Neuralink chip dedicated to translate a person’s thoughts into actions. This device resembles to a coin and is to be implanted in a skull. Three days ago, a monkey died during a brain chip procedure.
Hang the DJ
This is a story about dating apps—of how we’re never going to date the people that we want but will help us determine potential partners with or without expiration dates. Each of the encounter will have an expiration date depending on the compatibility. Part of the technology is the system who will collect the data of the matches and the system will be the one to lead people with their “perfect” partners.
Same algorithm was formed in dating apps like Bumble and Tinder as you go on and match with the people closest to your compatibility rates. They offer potential matches within your vicinity, shared interests, and a specific type.
NOSE DIVE
Nose Dive is an episode wherein people live in an oppressive society where they rate each other through actions and that is to be determined by a grading system called, “five-point scale.” People are built with eye implants for them to see the grades of people around them—making people obsessed with their own image. This is a portrayal of how much a person can go to obtain someone else’s approval.
This happens with social connectivity. People are so drawn into the idea of being liked and accepted that it transformed them into a completely different person. Also establishing the things you can go far just to justify your image to the world.
CONCLUSION
This show is definitely a living proof that we live in a world where people drive and give in to technology that much. It has its terrifying and useful effects, yes—but we can never deny the fact that it changes people and their perspectives.
Black Mirror is just one of those eye-opening tv series of what ifs in the world of technology and a realization that some of those tech just plainly existed elsewhere.
