Netflix’s Black Mirror has blown our minds and scared our souls with their unconventional way of telling the dangers of the internet, social media and technology.
What’s more terrifying is some instances in the show have somehow mirrored real life – truly stranger than fiction.
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT.
Here are some scary things in Black Mirror that might happen in real life:
1. People rating people
In the third season’s opening episode, ‘Nosedive’, is set in a universe where everyone rates the interactions they have between each other – ultimately dictating their status and likability in society.
We’ve already started rating people with apps like Tinder, Uber, Grab and more – but none have the consequences of your status or likability in society drastically changing… yet.
2. Robotic insects & animals
In season three’s closer, ‘Hated in the Nation’, drone bees are responsible for the string of murders linked to social media leads. The bees were hacked and told to kill a person who was singled out by a Twitter hashtag.
Robot insects or animals are not a thing of the future – they’re already here. Harvard has had robot bees since 2013 and Sony’s robot dogs are seen in years of CES – all evolving as each year passes. Hell, we even got Sophia the Robot, the first robot to have a human citizenship. Are these robots capable of total mass destruction – if they’re in the wrong hands or even worse, have a mind of their own?
3. Your laptop’s webcams being unsafe
In ‘Shut Up and Dance’, a boy was caught doing an indecent act on his laptop’s webcam, hacked by hackers. He was then forced to follow their rules and do unnecessary tasks without the option of saying no.
In recent years, people – even Mark Zuckerberg, are covering their webcams. Government agencies have been exposed for spying on people through their webcams and people have been uncomfortable and unsafe due to it. What’s truly next on their agenda?
4. Your memories recorded in real time
In the third episode of season one, ‘The Entire History of You’, every human has a grain implanted behind their ear that records everything, and the person can choose to play it back whenever they want. It’s safe to say that some things are just better left unrecorded and kept a secret.
With inventions like Google Glasses, Snapchat Spectacles and now Sony’s mission to create contact lenses that can record and play back events – it seems that it isn’t that much of a far-fetched reality.
5. Horror virtual reality
In ‘Playtest’, a man is chosen for a weird job that requires him to play a horror game that creates terrifying experiences based on the gamer’s fears. In the end, he is trapped in never-ending horror and is unable to get out.
With the rise of VR and the amount of games – horror included, made for it, it is also safe to assume that some people are scarred for life playing them. It is very hard to differentiate in-game and reality with the visual effects some of these games have. Is being trapped in a never-ending horror a possibility, theoretically?
6. Bringing back someone from the dead
In ‘Be Right Back’, a woman discovers a service which allows her to bring her dead husband back to life using photos, videos and social media posts to recreate his essence.
This is some form of AI that might already exist today with Google Home, Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. They might not be a dead loved one, but somehow they mirror a person assistant and companion – much like the movie ‘Her’.
Do you think there’s a possibility of these things happening?
Header image source from here