5 Times Black Mirror Came True
When chilling dystopian nightmares become a reality.
Charlie Brooker's hit show Black Mirror ponders what the world may be like in the near future. As an anthology series, the show has treated us to fascinating standalone episodes that paint a harrowing picture of our own potentially dystopian future.
Black Mirror is absolutely terrifying; a chilling look at the direction mankind is moving in with our rampant charge towards technological advancement. Deadly robotic bees, synthesised afterlife, even social media injected straight into our eyeballs. These are but a few of the ideas that the show has thrown out into the world to warn us all about the dangers of an over-reliance on technology.
The premise of each episode seems too out-there to actually exist in the real world. If that's what you thought then you'd be wrong. The show has depicted previously unknown real life events in the past: the Prime Minister getting, uh, busy with a pig in season one bears a striking resemblance to allegations that were later levelled against our former Prime Minister David Cameron.
But as the human race continues to make technological breakthroughs every day, let's have a look at a few of the more mental Black Mirror ideas that are becoming reality.
5. Simulated Personality
The opening episode of season two imagines a life where we could (kind of) bring back the dead, and it focuses on couple Ash and Martha. The two live together and are seemingly going steady.
Everything changes for Martha when Ash is suddenly killed in a car crash. Unable to deal with the loss, Martha uses a new technology that can simulate anybody's personality based off their social media profiles. With this technology Martha can text Ash, talk with him on the phone, and eventually even gets a replacement Ash that has been installed into a new body. Healthy.
We might not be at the stage of bringing back the dead just yet, but companies like Crystal are starting to get the hang of it. Crystal is a company that can help you tailor emails, conversations and interactions with people based off of their readily available online data.
If that's not scary enough, people are now using machine learning to superimpose anyone's face on to other people's bodies in pornographic videos. No thanks.