Black Mirror

[Rynn]

Some of you may already be into the show Black Mirror but for those that don't know it consists of independent episodes each looking into the near future and exploring the darker side of emerging technologies. The third series just released and it's fantastic, I think most people into OA will like it. Some of the things explored in the latest episodes are:

- Society organised by social media score (a changing value based on people rating each other that acts as a class definer)

- Virtual worlds and uploading for the elderly

- Military uses of augmented reality technology

- Synsect swarms to maintain the ecology in event of mass pollinator die off (this one in particular had some great visuals and plot).

The episodes don't link to each other so you can watch any one, no need to have seen the previous series or anything like that. It's available on netflix right now

I love the show and have nearly finished the third series, if anyone else does and wants to chat about it we can perhaps spin off a spoiler thread (it's difficult to talk about many episodes without spoiling the plot).

[stevebowers]

Charlie Brooker is very good, so I would expect this to be good too. But I haven't managed to catch any yet.

[Cray]

I burned out after the first season. I'll try the third now.

[QwertyYerty]

Maybe we can have another thread marked as spoilers for this series so we can talk about the show without spoiling it for some people? I personally don't mind spoilers, usually.

[Rynn]

Maybe we can have another thread marked as spoilers for this series so we can talk about the show without spoiling it for some people? I personally don't mind spoilers, usually.

Feel free to make it.

[rom65536]

That first episode, though.....

[Crazy Tom]

Black Mirror is the intellectual equivalent of looking your bartender straight in the eye and saying "Just fuck me up,".

[Rynn]

That first episode, though.....

Whilst the implementation was a bit silly it's scary to think how similar technology could be developed. Companies like uber already have a customer rating system wherein bad customers eventually get banned from the service. Positing advances in automated monitoring software (the kind that can interpret emotion, parse sentences, correlate multiple data streams like "time spent browsing vs money spent") and cheap sensors...

- Stores could monitor all their customers and give them ratings to decide how valuable they are. Employees could get suggestions on their AR lenses as to how to treat individuals, e.g. "High tipping customer, treat with respect" or "buys one coffee an hour and mooches wifi, kick out after twenty minutes"

- Employers could mandate Producitivty Monitors. Statistics like browsing habits, time spent conversing on non work related topics and length of bathroom breaks could all be gathered analysed. One day you may be fired due to your overall employee score dropping due to some esoteric reason (eye ball tracker reports too much time staring out window). With your rating following you around it's harder to get jobs so potential employers lower their offered salary.

- Citizen credit ratings that influence your ability to access public services could work by monitoring your activities in public and online and analysing them for patriotic/trouble making behaviour. Associating with low scorers can affect your score too adding an element of social pressure. With low scores anything from ticket prices on public transport to waiting times in hospital are all worse for you. (N.B. The Chinese government is experimenting with something just like this IRL).

TL;DR the gamification of social interactions when linked to legal/financial systems is a recipe for dystopian conformism.