this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2025
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Technology

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69
Black Mirror’s pessimism porn won’t lead us to a better future | Louis Anslow (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 2 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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[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 22 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This felt like reading about someone who complains that The Daily Show doesn't have enough positive news stories on it. Dark Mirror fills a niche that people look for, it's not something that making people think a certain way.

And no mention at all of San Junipero. I guess that would break selling it as pessimism porn when there's examples otherwise.

[–] BackgrndNoize@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The very episode that's shown in the thumbnail had a happy ending where the crew used his own tech against him

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 1 points 1 day ago

I haven't seen the sequel to it yet, and sort of was fine leaving it open-ended. I can see how there are dark parts to that episode, mainly from sticking with Dark Mirror's premise that tech can be used badly. It also paints a not-so-great picture of the real people, hero worship, maybe the gaming industry? The sim copies seem to make out the best of anyone. Definitely a favorite, if I'd rate it on dark vs. positive, it's 8/10 positive, whereas San Junipero was a 10/10 in the end. Actually San was a 9/10, as it did show that some used the tech there as escape and didn't grow like the main characters finally did.

[–] jumjummy@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Hang the DJ also had a pretty positive ending too.