| The future is digital, but in several cases beautifully explored by the English TV series Black Mirror, just how digital do we want to be? The show portrays, to a conceivable extreme, the online social tendencies of today’s society.
Two episodes particularly take on the so-called “accelerationist” movement, according to which it is necessary to go through the worst, to then realise the advantage of living almost completely offline. In one of the episodes, each person can tape and restore all their images. In the other one, each person rates everyone they meet, the global rating then defines their access to goods, jobs, funding and even relationships. Their dystopia’s show that by taping and rating their immediate surroundings, they first seem to solve a lot of problems, then, they turn the life of each of these imaginary worlds’ inhabitants upside down. Yet is the real world really that far from these two? The first one is being newly legitimated with the series of revelations about harassments and assaults from people in power regardless of industry or title. Nothing would be better, to dissuade, to prove or to exonerate those that might be wrongly accused, than to possess permanent recordings of each person’s interactions with others. In some countries, policemen already have to permanently wear cameras around their necks when they are in service, a tiny camera then records all of their actions, to prevent blunders and corruption. One might imagine (it will soon happen) a tiny camera dissimulated in jewellery for instance, worn by women as much as men. Its presence, real or imaginary, perfectly visible, taping all images and all sounds, might be infinitely dissuasive for any opportunists. One might even suspect the man or woman that doesn’t wear one, of being up to no good. The second dystopia is being newly recognised in the growing requirements of sellers, consumers, employers, bankers, insurers, doctors, teachers, policemen, judges, romantic partners. Where rating services are used to guarantee levels of efficiency. These accumulated ratings help to create trust in future exchanges. Therefore, few things might be necessary to gather these specific ratings in to that singular overall mixed personal and professional ranking within society. However, as showcased in “Black Mirror”, this collective hypermnesia will soon turn : everyone would be imprisoned in its own digital sphere, with the smallest details forever remembered. Everyone would be required to please permanently. No transgression of any kind would be possible to overlook. One might easily imagine how the internet of things and artificial intelligence might allow with this. . In this instance, for the safety of society, the images should only be available to those with a clear order of protection such as judges, and therefore remain private. For example, if someone is accused of any misbehaviour, these images may be released to the Judge. No one else. A global personalised rating should not be possible, by forbidding the collection of specific ratings There is still time to either lucidly accept this evolution or to stop it. |
