“Black Mirror is a show about weak people using powerful tools”
– Charlie Brooker, creator of Black Mirror
In the past few years, technology has transformed our lives completely. We didn’t have time to stop, think about it, and question what’s happening around us. In every home, on every desk, in every living room, in everybody’s hand: a screen or a smartphone. We all got our own black mirrors surrounding us (Allal-Chérif, 2019).
Black Mirror, who doesn’t know it? The show is set in a world which seems only minutes away from our own. It shows how modern technologies can create value in our lives, but also how these technologies can backfire at us (IMDb, 2019). Every episode is set in a different universe and covers different topics like our obsessions with social media, the end of our privacy, fake news, and transhumanism.
Where some episodes of Black Mirror seem far-fetched, multiple technologies covered in the show are slowly coming to life.
Nosedive (Season 3, Episode 1):
This episode covers social media ratings. What would happen if your social media ranking determines your living standard? This would mean that a high social media rating gives you the ability to purchase a beautiful home, receive a higher loan, and gives you access to exclusive events. On the other hand, this also means that if you have a low social media rating, you may be unable to get your dreamhouse, or get a loan so that you can go to University (Khara, 2019).
As disturbing and far-fetched this may seem, it unfortunately is becoming reality. The Chinese government is introducing a similar social credit scoring system by 2020. This system will rate the Chinese citizen’s trustworthiness based on all kinds of personal data (Marr, 2019). For example: your financial situation, social media activities, health records, legal matters, what you buy online, and even your friends. This rating can go up and down, based on your actions. If you purchase diapers your score might get higher because the system assumes you’re a caregiver. Do you buy a lot of alcohol? This might lower your score since the system assumes you’re irresponsible. Do you play video games? Don’t cheat, the system will know! Crossing a red light, even when the street is empty? Don’t do it, cameras will recognize your face and lower your score significantly. Helping an elderly across the street? Bonus points!
While I find this rating system very disturbing, and probably most people in the world would freak out if this system would be implemented. But there are a lot of others that actually see this technology as a utopia to promote good citizenship. I highly doubt this system would help, but stranger things have happened. Where do you stand?
References:
https://blog.usejournal.com/glimpses-of-futures-design-in-black-mirror-53d8746e04c9
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085059/plotsummary
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/01/21/chinese-social-credit-score-utopian-big-data-bliss-or-black-mirror-on-steroids/#4172069a48b8
https://theconversation.com/black-mirror-the-dark-side-of-technology-118298
