Learn about technologies in the Black Mirror

Anyone watching the Black Mirror drama must have thought that what happened in the movie could happen in real life.The dark future described in this popular TV series will not be far away.

Charlie Brooker author says what happens in the film is based on what happens in the present life.The following technologies are 'similarities', appearing in both Black Mirror and reality.

Shut Up and Dance: Hack and blackmail

In the movie : Hackers can access webcams and personal data, then use them to fight victims.

In 'Shut Up and Dance', hackers gathered evidence against some people, then used their cell phones to send information, forcing them to fulfill their requirements.

In fact : Although this exact scenario has not happened, nothing is impossible.Your webcam or computer may be hacked and electronic blackmail is nothing new.There are even dozens of websites that store streams directly from unsecured Internet-connected webcams.It won't take too long to hack a cheap surveillance camera.

Raising awareness of personal cyber security is probably a good thing, but don't always fear that you will encounter threats such as email fraud or someone sneaking around and extorting.It is a popular scam, and it is unlikely that the blackmailer has got any of your information.

Nosedive: Calculating social points

In the movie : At some point in reality, we can see a lot of things in life (rent, work, dating opportunities, etc.) depending on how others judge us.

That's exactly what 'Nosedive' is.It focuses on a world where every social interaction that people have, from drinking coffee to talking, is rated the same as using Uber services.The ranking index defines the social class, but it also plays a more important role in your life, from rent discounts to cancer treatment.

In fact : All these things exist in some form.We do not have AR vision implant (implant device with AR vision technology), showing the ranking index of all people, but in fact we have the following:

1. China has a social credit system - developed to calculate points for everyone depending on how much they perform some social measurements, such as junk, spending money. legitimate, playing games too much, not paying debts, or committing crimes.Failure to maintain good grades can result in a flight ban and train travel, causing Internet speed to drop, deciding on future jobs and more.This system is still in the testing phase and many people in China claim to like it.In addition to the advantages of centralized management, it is relatively similar to the vision of a similar system in the Black Mirror.
2. Facebook, originally aimed at assessing the appearance of Harvard university students, has turned into a very useful tool, allowing to show many levels of social status.Instagram emphasizes building a 'aesthetically' brand a little closer to the application described in Nosedive.
3. Peeple aspires to be like Yelp - a famous search engine, but has yet to be enthusiastically responded by users.Therefore, Peeple's application must now become more friendly and require people to approve before being ranked.

The credit rating is based on the data used by some companies to assign a prestigious rating depending on the personal data the user provides - such as access to social networks, emails, habits accustomed spending, destination history, etc., replacing traditional FICO points, based on financial history only.

Based on the current situation, the ranking index has not really affected much to life.Even so, things like China's citizenship rating system and behavior-based prestige scoring, seem to be bringing the intention of calculating social scores closer to reality.

Hated in the Nation: Unmanned aircraft

In the movie : In the future, we will have autonomous unmanned airplanes 'wandering' everywhere.They can be hacked and become 'killing machines'.

'Hated in the Nation' takes place in the near future, under the 'dominance' of unmanned aircraft.

Unfortunately, the fact that these unmanned drones were hacked and used for bad purposes is not widely publicized on social media.This seems true in the current context.

In fact : This is a completely reliable premise.People not only created unmanned drones, but had patents on unmanned aircraft to replace honey bees.

Simulate personality

In the movie : We will be able to create human AI copies that are very similar to reality, but don't seem to be sympathetic to them.

Personality Simulation is a big topic in Black Mirror:

1. ' Be Right Back ' involves a woman who brings her dead husband back by allowing the AI ​​to access his data.
2. ' The USS Callister ' has told the story of a game designer, testing new games with a digital copy of a colleague.
3. ' Hang the DJ ' displays an application to create an AI copy to check compatibility in relationships.
4. ' White Christmas ' describes a world where people are digitally cloned into personal assistants (and psychologically tortured to force them to submit).

In fact : Although every episode has its own personality simulation, the general idea is that humans can create replicas that simulate personality using data or brains that are more or less accurate. .This is still being debated, but in fact we were able to use data to simulate interactions with those who have died and there are many studies trying to create robots that look like human.

Perhaps the most similar project in existence so far is ETER9, an AI-supported social network, promising to digitize personality and create a cyberspace partner for people.

People have faced many technology-related fears and are temporarily handling them quite well.TV dramas like Black Mirror represent limits on technological progress, using intentional extreme scenarios to force us to consider future directions.Technology always has shortcomings and people don't always use them wisely.But in the long run, as long as we continue to change so that technology evolves in a way that benefits people, hopefully more autonomous systems and fewer citizenship systems will be available. .

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