When the bees are extinct, humans can only survive for four years. Over the years, this hypothesis has spread with great fanfare, responding to the human fear of extinction. Many people put this amazing prophecy in Einstein's name, but in fact, disappointingly, there is no evidence that Einstein ever made such a judgment. This sentence, wrapped in the cloak of science, is just a response to the fear in the collective unconscious of mankind, just like other mysterious and unverifiable old sayings.
The sixth episode of the third season of "Black Mirror" "Public Enemies on the Internet" presents a "post-bee extinction era" scene. In that world, mankind did not become extinct from famine, but died from the evil of human nature. In this story, "the bee extinction" metaphors the collapse of culture and civilization, which is a kind of spiritual famine in morality and humanity.
In order to maintain the normal operation of the world, the government and technology companies have cooperated to create artificial intelligence bees. These tiny insects with metal bodies and intelligent minds reproduce quietly in different corners. They are hidden but omnipresent and can be seen by everyone. But it was ignored by everyone. Of course, some people have been worried from the beginning that these little things flying all over the sky will become private cameras, but no one can confirm these. More importantly, this is almost the limit that people can worry about. But in the end, these creatures far surpassed people's imagination and became weapons of murder.
This story is the finale of the first half of the third season of "Black Mirror". The final result of the abuser is still unknown. The dynamic open ending becomes an extension of fear, reflecting the current seemingly peaceful but pervasive reality. .
"I never thought about living in the future, but I fucking live in the future now." The heroine in "Public Enemy All Net" watched the smart bees fly automatically to form the company's logo, said. This is a self-deprecating sentence, but also a curse. It accidentally broke our current status quo. We live in an age that seems to be true and illusion. There has never been an era where technology has become a new religion. We have grand hopes and willingly surrender to all technologies that are labeled "smart", "cloud", "interactive", "virtual reality" and so on. We call this a kind of "progress", so as to pronounce and ridicule those who hold a distance and question all of this. That group is considered to be the current Amish variant-a kind of stubbornness that is destined to be eliminated. Old school.
We cheer loudly for the future and quietly fear the disappearance of privacy, artificial intelligence out of control, and the blurring of the boundary between virtual and reality. But these doubts cannot offset the arrogance of human beings who want to be the creator.
Between the fast-forward technology and the lingering panic, there is a deep anxiety. The reason why "Black Mirror" has such an attractiveness is because it responds to the most personal anxiety. It knows how to refuse and greet it, and its way of telling is not glamorous at all. On the contrary, it tries its best to fit the reality we have experienced, but it presents a collapsing future.
From the very beginning, "Black Mirror" upholds a cold trial perspective, exhibiting everything as if exhibiting evidence. To some extent, it is the most classic echo of dystopian themes in contemporary times.
With the "massification" of the "dystopian" theme, this lead-grey type of cautionary constant words has become increasingly superficial, and its coldness has been subtly eliminated, and it has almost become a foil for the drama of youth and love. In this context, "Black Mirror" at least inherited a certain authentic lineage, restoring the soul of dystopia-more importantly, it gave this subject matter new and contemporary possibilities.
Compared with the political themes in the past, these types of themes now involve more technology and desire. To some extent, this is a more internalized fear. Politics is applied from the outside to personal violence, to control and demand obedience, while technology inspires everyone's internal identification, we cheer and personally participate in the creation of a cage. If the former is still possible to rebel, then the latter has almost no escape hole.
"Black Mirror" targeted the first episode of the new season "Turning Down" to social media that all contemporary people cannot leave. When the "friend of thumb" expands from the level of speech to the level of reality and body, people are completely materialized. Everyone has to score everyone, and the score determines a person's life experience. It has become a credit record in the era of social media. It relates to whether people can qualify for food, clothing, housing and transportation, and whether they can be allowed to enter a certain circle. It is enough to magnify the vengeful malice and performance hypocrisy in people's hearts. When evaluation becomes a trial, everyone can become an executioner, and at the same time, everyone can be the next victim.
It jumps and connects with the leaked and manipulated privacy in the third episode of "Dance of the Black Letter". Social media easily creates a paradox: we voluntarily disclose all personal information, hobbies and whereabouts, work and mood, and at the same time, we also believe in the solemnity of privacy and the possibility of being protected.
If the content of these two episodes is more like an exaggeration of the current reality to a certain extent, then the second episode "Game Test" and the fourth episode "San Junipello" throw fear into the future.
Virtual reality will almost inevitably take over our future lives. Initially, it will have a relationship with us in an entertaining way, and then it will completely rule our daily life. Whether in movies or games, human beings have always dreamed of being "immersive" to the greatest extent. From black and white images to today's 3D effects, people increasingly want to create a possibility to "immerse" the audience. In other words, we want to completely remove the boundary between reality and illusion and turn "viewing" into "experience".
After the adventurous man in "Game Test" was thrown into a virtual situation, it aroused all his deep fears. There is the most shallow level of stress response to certain animals and insects, and the realistic level is for one-night stands. The subject's suspicion of stealing his own credit card, as well as the rooted fears about parents, genes, and fate that cannot be escaped. Generally speaking, people think that virtual reality is more like a high-level and exciting game. People start happily, devote themselves to it, exit without worry, and return to real life. But the problem is that once the virtual situation Beyond a certain subtle boundary, it is no longer a game that can be shaken off at any time, but becomes a real experience, and then into personal experience, people will never be able to quit. In this sense, reality and fiction are sometimes just a fluctuation in the mind. When the boundary is broken, fiction and reality can no longer be effectively screened, which becomes a philosophical torture.
If this story is about imprisonment, then the story of "San Junipello" is about salvation. But the tragedy is that the system where the consciousness developed for the purpose of treatment is uploaded to the cloud is ultimately regarded as the ultimate paradise by mankind. And because of this, salvation is still reduced to distress in the end.
When people feel that the body and perception can be separated, then the uploading of consciousness is no longer a taboo. When San Junipello becomes a cloud of wandering souls, then the real world in our usual sense is like an island that can be abandoned. People meet and love each other again in the clouds, and the flesh becomes an outdated medium. There has never been an era like this. While we are endlessly greedy for carnal desires, we are trying our best to eliminate the flesh. Many people think that as long as the consciousness can be uploaded, everyone can become a light spirit. But the problem is that when human beings only exist in a conscious way, then "existence" itself has been reduced to a void.
Compared with this story about the way we exist in the future, the fifth episode of "Heroes of War" presents the mechanism of "prejudice" more realistically. In this era of increasingly fierce cultural conflicts, "Heroes of War" may be the least sci-fi, but the most torturous one. Soldiers are implanted in the brain module to make "one leaf blind" a reality, it allows people to kill without psychological obstacles, allowing distorted knowledge to flow unimpeded. What really hinders people from doing evil is empathy, but that module blocks the possibility of empathy and inspires evil. Whether it is the behavior of those people named "cockroaches" or the argument of genetic investigation, it is reminiscent of the Nazis. This story is reminding people that technological advancement may not lead to the bright, and may become an accomplice.
To some extent, "Black Mirror" is a variant of the "seven deadly sins" of the technological age. Since the first season, it has revealed a solemn doomsday tone. All its stories stand on the opposite side of revelers, carefully handling the hottest technology and the most eager expectations of this era.
Just as optimists believe that technological progress will resolve everything, pessimists have always predicted that technology will eventually eat back humanity. "Black Mirror" is the out-of-date bass in this cheerful chorus. It is not a bad sing but an early warning, allowing people to realize their arrogance. But more people feel that our road to the singularity is the inevitable and shortcut to liberate mankind and liberate humanity. Even if we know that there will be side effects, compared to the grand glory, the sporadic haze is insignificant. And despair is often caused by extreme inflation and blind optimism.
Compared with the terrible past in history, the fear of technological utopia is that it has never appeared. Those disasters created by out-of-control power and force can become the mirror of today, but a scene that has never appeared before can not be taken as a lesson. Therefore, "Black Mirror" prophecies are often treated as jokes. This is an even more desperate arrogance. If this arrogance spreads infinitely, one day, these black prophecies will become prophecies and elegy.
(This article first publishes the Tencent TV Drama Channel Appreciation Division Column)
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