When we think about the word “dystopia,” we usually think about movies that have to deal with zombies or catastrophic disasters. We visualize the dystopian world as an apocalyptic atmosphere or a disoriented society with people that are consistently suffering. However, technology dystopia may pull the trick on us to believe otherwise, shaping the illusion of thinking the technology advancement enhances every aspect of our lives and ultimately brings prosperity into our humanity. Movies like Black Mirror and The Feed both showcase the peril of new technologies, inciting the ramification of scientific catastrophe. Dystopian science fiction leaves many ethical questions for the audience to rethink about the flourishment of technology as well as how far should we push the boundaries of the omnipotent future technology.
Our modern society is pretty close to what Nosedive manifests. The rating and reviews system has always been part of the new era of digital services. The purpose of this rating gesture is to help the consumers easily share their feedback on the service and the individual. However, in this episode of Black Mirror, the protagonist was living in a bubbly and status-obsessed society. In order to achieve high status/ranking, she practices her expressions and interactions with people before she gets to work. To stand out or doing well in her environment, she needs to put on a smiley face all the time and have to carry out this well-mannered performance wherever she goes. These non-spontaneous “performances” she engaged in ultimately led her into despair and imprisonment. Back to our real world, it is critical and ethical to reflect the long-term consequences of these features like rating and reviewing since they could be easily biased and skewed. I have personally seen restaurants got buried by bad reviews because of some unpleasant encounters with customers, and when they get viral on Twitter, it is over for their businesses. Therefore, the review page could become a tool for people to take down any business.The rating system is a double-edged sword; it could provide a sense of security for the potential customers and incentivize the workers to perform most optimally. However, optimal doesn’t mean humans are perfect – we are not robots programmed to make no mistake. Imagine putting on a smiley face when you are having a bad day just to receive a good rating from your customer; that would be exhausting and dehumanizing. At the end of the day, we don’t want technologies to prevent authentic and genuine connections.
The Feed is another dystopian science fiction that essentially investigates the problems of future technology. It also explores a series of questions like whether we should trust the computer’s advancement, which authorizes and in charge of the forefront of technology development, and is this predictive programming redefines our humanity? While acknowledging the technology could possibly achieve our wish to bring people closer and leverage their living experience to an expeditious level, the disastrous effects could also be imminent and insurmountable when it gets out of control. The technology they used in The Feed was fascinating yet concerning. It emphasizes the idea of humans’ interconnectivity, turning the shared experiences into reality. Whether it is about our perception or physical senses, our technologies already enhance our experience on many levels in the real world. Unfortunately, we have become inseparable from them. If we ought to keep pushing our experience further than what we already have (like in The Feed), then the definition of our reality will start to shift since we would no longer feel satisfied or content in our current reality without the technology that catalyzes us.
I remember Jodi (one of my professors) taught us the term “digital twin” – a digital duplicate of a living or non-living physical entity. She insinuated that everyone has a copy of themselves digitally somewhere out there. It was a mesmerizing lesson because it made sense: all of the detailed information about yourself that you filled in online; the records of your health history and your current status, anything that I could think of can be technically found online! It is incredible to think about how we are constantly distributing data about ourselves when we interact with the internet and even when you are NOT on the internet. I am sure everyone has experienced something like this: last night, you and your friends talked about taking a trip to Mexico for spring break, and the next day, your Instagram feed will pop up ads from Airbnb and TripAdvisor that show you the deals for trips to Mexico. The precision of these ads is quite scary but what’s more uncanny is that your devices are constantly gathering information about you. IoT explains data-gathering perfectly; it sets up a giant network for different devices to connect and exchange data with each other. The question is, who gives permission to receive and regenerate our data? Should users be aware of what kind of information they are giving out all the time? For now, we are still in the midst of enjoying all the new innovations, and most of us are not paying attention to what we have been giving out on the internet.
The Netflix show Altered Carbon demonstrated the feasible explanation of holding the massive amount of data as a currency or commodity. The “sleeve” is the term used for bodies that serve as a receptacle for a cortical stack, a place that restores someone’s consciousness and their data. In our world right now, especially with the progressive development of IoT and the existence of “digital twin,” we are technically ready and capable of providing accurate data about ourselves for the “sleeve.” The idea of living eternally has been passed on since our ancestors, yet it is frightening to think our consciousness could possibly be transferred onto another body. So I wonder, if life is given to us by nature, doesn’t death come with it? If death becomes no longer inevitable for humans, then would humans become transhuman because of technology? I doubt this is what our past scientist like Vannevar Bush wanted when he talked about the prosper harmony of technology and human flourishing.
