this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
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69
Black Mirror’s pessimism porn won’t lead us to a better future | Louis Anslow (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 days ago by Womble@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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A new progressivism, one that embraces construction over obstruction, must find new allegories to think about technology and the future

Black Mirror fails to consistently explore the duality of technology and our reactions to it. It is a critical deficit. The show mimics the folly of Icarus and Daedalus – the original tech bros – and the hubris of Jurassic Park’s Dr Hammond. Missing are the lessons of the Prometheus myth, which shows fire as a boon for humanity, not doom, though its democratization angered benevolent gods. Absent is the plot twist of Pandora’s box that made it philosophically useful: the box also contained hope and opportunity that new knowledge brings. While Black Mirror explores how humans react to technology, it too often does so in service of a dystopian narrative, ignoring Isaac Asimov’s observation: that humans are prone to irrationally fear or resist technology.

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[–] AnAmericanPotato@programming.dev 7 points 2 days ago

Yes, I loved classic Trek for showing a better a future, where humans have moved beyond our greed, prejudice, and self-destructive tendencies. That was the through line in TOS and TNG, even if it wasn't always 100% on-point and didn't always age well (you need to view TOS in its historical context to get past the baked-in 1960s sexism, for example).

There's a place for cautionary tales, and there's a place for aspirational tales.

I liked Discovery well enough for what it was, but I hated its picture of a future where good humans are the exception rather than the rule.

Nowadays, I think solarpunk is where its at.