Black Mirror: The Future Of Science Fiction

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Science fiction, as a genre, has evolved over time as the fears of what the future held changed and the fear of who, or what, could end humanity increased significantly. This rise in technophobia was a direct result of technology becoming more complex and part of our daily lives. Rather than the potential threat of an atomic bomb and its consequences wreaking havoc one day if it is dropped, today’s society faces a more imminent threat with how advanced and instrumental modern day technology is in our society. The genre of science fiction has adapted to incorporate the changing themes regarding technology. Shows, like Black Mirror, ask viewers to imagine a world where technology has no limits, thus, eliciting fear within the viewer of what …show more content…
In modern day society, technology is complex, used by the masses, and part of our everyday lives. Science fiction creators use technology to their advantage when creating stories about what could happen in the near future. Beauchamp raises the question of “is the technology in dystopian fiction merely an instrument in the hands of the state's totalitarian rulers, used by them to enforce a set of values extrinsic to the technology itself, or is it, rather, an autonomous force that determines the values and thus shapes the society in its own image, a force to which even the putative rulers…are subservient” (54). In other words, is technology itself inherently bad, or is it the possibility of the technology getting into the wrong hands that elicits the fear? This sentiment can be seen in the last episode of the third season, where killer bees start to attack society. The bees, themselves, are not bad until Garrett Scholes hacks the bees to start killing …show more content…
As a whole, technology has improved society and changes the way we view our surrounding environments and ourselves. Dinello states, “As emerging technologies shift the balance of power between human and machine, our concept of humanity alters” (11). In other words, as technology evolves and changes society, our view on humanity and how we define humanity changes. This can be specifically seen in the first episode of the second season. In the episode titled “Be Right Back”, Martha discovers an artificial intelligence that can imitate Ash. By using Ash’s social media presence as a guide, the artificial Ash can mimic the real Ash in such a way that even to Martha is almost too eerily similar, but at the same time there are concrete differences that separate the two and make it apparent that nothing could replace the real Ash. Martha at first is wary to allow this artificial intelligence into her life, but eventually embraces him. This promotes the one of the benefits and positives of technology, but in a creepy way. This technology eases the transition of a loved one dying forcing the viewer to question if this technology crosses a line. It does not cause any direct harm, but it does change how humanity is defined. The viewer cannot help but to think of what implications technology like this would have in real society. The possibilities would be endless. Death would no longer be
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