Netflix’s Black Mirror is an award-winning psychological introspective that shows what life would be like with a fully entrenched “Internet of Things”. What if job opportunities or real estate choices were limited by your 5-star rating, a la Uber? What if life’s progression was decided by a points system? What if you could “block” people in real life? The show delves into all these questions, and much more.
One episode, White Christmas, looks into the dangers of advanced surveillance technology and the malicious side of the Internet of Things. A young man utilizes a dating service that assists him through a “Z-Eye” camera with a staff of experienced men providing advice in his ear. A wife blocks a husband, and all he can see is a static outline and muffled voice.
The technology is already here, in some respect. Google Glass is a start in that direction, and as we go deeper into the rabbit hole, we will see more social media concepts make its way into the real world. The crux of the story is the man’s daughter is also blocked from his view, as the Z-Eye block also extends to offspring.
The haunting beauty of this show is that the concepts presented seem very out there and other-worldly, but are not that far away in reality. The tech framework for a full “Internet of Things” is there, and this show gives us a look at how humans would deal with it.
I think it is very informative to have a show that showcases some of the things that the Internet of Things does. However, this show in particular shows some of the dangerous sides and downfalls of the IoT. There is a lo of uncertainty that comes along with it. For example, hacking vehicles is also a major concern. When these machines become more connected and more autonomous there is a topic of security to address. However, companies, such as Tesla, try to react to it in a positive way to assure people that there are no flaws. It is good to know both sides of the IoT so people can be able to use it in a productive way. Our future is meant to be bright and innovative.
-Lobna Ahmed
Source:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/20/internet-of-things-security-dangers
I think that a big concept that contributes to the success of this show is how we are basically on the path of being in situations like those portrayed in the episodes. Although it seems unrealistic, most of the episodes are often not far from reality. For example the one with the tech bees, made to save the planet,is something that we have considered or thought of since the bees are dying at an alarming rate. I think this shows really makes us think of the dark sides of the internet of things or the different ways that life could be with it. Since normally we consider the internet of things something that will make our future better, this show allows us to take a step back and really think of other realities/consequences that could come from having this type of technology in our lives.
Hello Grant Thomas, Black Mirror is a very interesting show how it represents a future with the Internet of Things. Although it shows how technologically advance everything is, it mainly shows the downsides of this technology or what could happen if we use this technology poorly. Blocking someone to avoid your problems, rating people in real-life, or using a dating service through a headphone in your ear are all examples of this technology being poorly used. Instead we could use this technology for better reasons such as, using the blocking technology to get a brief bio of someone you are talking to. All of this technology can play a very important and beneficial part on our daily lives if we use it correctly.
Personally I do not think the Internet of Things showed in the Black Mirror is a good way we would live with in the future. As the examples that you showed to us in your article, the fully use of the Internet of Things can be used by people who want to escape from the reality. I think the idea of blocking other people, even our children and relatives are the worst thing we can ever think about. Human beings are born with the ability to communicate with others. By interacting with each other, we can learn a lot as well as solve plenty of problems. Simply blocking others, especially people who are really close to us can be regard as run away from social responsibilities, it is also a disrespect to people we blocked on the other hand. While encounter a problem, the first thing we should ever think about should be how to solve it, and make everyone involved feel satisfied, instead of just blocking everything that we do not want to face. If we do nothing but to block everything or every people that dissatisfied us, our world will be smaller, darker, and more depressing. And that is what the Black Mirror episodes makes me feel, endless depressing. It is a good show but I really do not want our future to be like that.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/10/25/you-should-be-watching-black-mirror-but-that-doesnt-mean-you-should-binge-it/?utm_term=.0ed6195fe6ec