Black Mirror has presented a slew of creative, frightening, and intriguing scenarios for the future of technology across its seven series, interactive film, and holiday special. Most of these stories are presented as cautionary tales about how technology can control people, punish people, and even cause their violent demise. It is a harrowing anthology series to take in, with each episode presenting vastly different ways to live with intrusive technology. For the majority of the show, these are not pieces of technology you want to take hold of society. But just watching as a single person with little faith in society as it is, there are a few that could be fun to have until things go awry.
We decided to take a look back across the series on Netflix and pin down some of the tech we could see being useful in day-to-day life. Does it get tougher the deeper you go into the show? Definitely. But even with the deadliest and craziest tech, there is a part that could be useful. So I decided to put together a list of the tech from Black Mirror that I would want to use in real life. Some of it is brand-new tech, and some of it is tech that makes things we have actually useful for once. Scroll down to take in the list and be sure to let us know what tech you’d want to use in the comments.
1) Coma Communication Tech
Highlighted in the episode “Black Museum,” the communication box gives a person the ability to have basic communication with a loved one who is in a coma. While the rest of the episode takes this idea to extremes and then creates some sort of coma eternity torture, the ability to speak with a loved one in a coma is good. Sure, that eventually evolves to moving someone’s consciousness to either a new body, their partner’s brain, or the memory banks of a toy monkey. Even though you can only say yes or no with the comm box, it’s better than existential dread.
2) Infinity Game
The game and tech demonstrated in the “U.S.S. Callister” episode are shown to have a dangerous slant depending on the user, but the general idea is pretty cool. Create versions of people from your life or just interact with others already in the game, providing you with sentient individuals in a virtual space that can think, feel, and experience a scenario right alongside you. While Jesse Plemons’ character uses his game for selfish reasons, the actual possibilities for such a device can help people cope with the loss of loved ones or give them a chance to assume a role they never could achieve in the real world. Sign me up.
3) Hang the DJ App
Online dating sucks. You’re tasked with filling out a profile and selling yourself through photos, some text nobody will ever read, and other biological details. Even after spending all that time, your next steps are a swipe away, typically to the left and onto the next, but some folks are luckier than others. While the scenario in “Hang the DJ” is a traumatic one throughout, the ability to match with someone and experience life with them and others before ever going on a true date is special. People would pay for that just to try it, especially if it can bring more of a person to the online dating experience.
4) San Junipero Cloud
Who doesn’t want to just be able to live on in a virtual world and leave their sickly body behind? The tech showcased in “San Junipero” gives a second chance to disabled people, allows dying people to upload their minds to the computer to get a second chance, and essentially gives people the ability to live in this digital paradise for good, in a sort of digital immortality. This is also one of the few episodes to present the tech in a positive light throughout the episode. No tricks required! No need to bring up how bad this would be for the environment.
5) Z-Eye
Now we’re starting to get into the real questionable territory. A super-charged version of Google Glass or Meta’s wearable tech, the Z-Eye allows a user to read and send text messages, complete phone calls, and eventually block people you no longer want to interact with in life. While that is a questionable facet, and one that is used as punishment for Jon Hamm’s character in “White Christmas” after he is blocked to everyone due to being a sex offender. If it just gives me the ability to block out someone toxic and cut them out of your life forever? That’s a game changer.
6) Digital DNA Scanner
Another from “U.S.S. Callister” and its sequel is the DNA copier itself, managed separately for my purposes because the ability to create avatars of real people or dead people is quite interesting. For my money, even having avatars of your parents to consult on questions you never got to ask about life is important. Sometimes people die early, and this would give you the chance to keep them around for longer, and in any scenario that you could enjoy. Want to go fishing with your late father in your own virtual world? Make it happen.
7) Consciousness Transfer
Also taken from “Black Museum,” and hopefully quickly ushered away to greener pastures, the consciousness transferer is a simple method for taking one’s consciousness and putting it into another entity. In the series, this leads to the comatose Carrie taking up real estate in her husband Jack’s head, before he moves on and sends her to exist in limbo within a monkey doll. A horrible end, but it wouldn’t have to be. Being able to copy someone’s mind into another body or machine before they expire would be a benefit to some, and something I’d use for good if available.
8) Grain
The Grain could be a real problem if it were real, as presented in the episode “The Entire History of You.” It turns out to be a nightmare for Toby Kebbell, but it doesn’t have to be. You just don’t want someone knowing you have it implanted, or they might try to cut it out and steal your life, possibly blinding you. But as long as you’re not an obsessive or trying to manage every small detail you can’t go back and change, the benefits of this tech are there. Did you lose your car keys? Trying to reminisce about old acquaintances? Want to relive key moments of your life? The Grain is for you!
9) “Metalhead” Dogs
If you’ve watched “Metalhead,” you know this is a tough sell. We already have some precursors to these deadly hunters thanks to Boston Dynamics’ line of robodogs, but they are still quite tame compared to these advanced killers. But what if someone turns their switch from evil to good? Good mechanical boys and girls who are out to help you and defend you instead of hunt and murder you without concern. Sign me up at that point. They’ll smell better than most dogs and you could dress it up in a little costume.
10) Cookie
And finally, the Cookie. It is technically the version of A.I. being sold by companies to people now in the real world, but it actually exists in “White Christmas” from Black Mirror‘s 2014 holiday special. These “cookies,” or digital clones kept in an egg-shaped device, act as personal assistants around the home. This is the part that would be nice to have, similar to how people expect Google or other virtual assistants to work. But instead of some bit of code trying to be human, the Cookie can be a copy of you, trained and aware of your likes and needs. Just keep it far from the prisons and retirement homes. Nobody wants to be living 1,000 years every minute.
Did we miss some benefits? Is there tech we overlooked that you think would be better in reality? Sound off in the comments.
The post 10 Pieces of Black Mirror Technology That I Would Actually Use appeared first on ComicBook.com.
