“Black Mirror” has all the time had the uncanny means to stroll the road between relatable and futuristic. Its creators handle to seamlessly weave new, thrilling, and terrifying applied sciences and cultural ideas into conditions which can be shockingly near what we’re seeing because the twenty first century unfolds. Typically, this begins with an earthly or at the least simply comprehensible state of affairs, like an unsavory political candidate, a strained marriage, or the lack of a liked one. Then, the present will add in a twist (or let viewers accomplish that with episodes like “Bandersnatch”) that takes issues in an surprising route.
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That is enjoyable all by itself, however you’ll find that sort of writing in quite a lot of sci-fi exhibits. What makes Netflix’s darkish sci-fi anthology particular is its means to eerily predict the longer term. Again and again, the present has used the inevitable march of know-how to recommend fictional conditions that we subsequently see play out in the actual world. Do not imagine us? Listed below are just some of the obvious examples within the present’s long-running historical past to date.
1. Be Proper Again predicted AI-resurrected family members
The primary episode of season 2, “Be Proper Again,” aired approach again in 2013. It depicts a bereaved and pregnant Martha (Hayley Atwell), who processes the lack of her associate, Ash (Domhnall Gleeson). In her grief, she decides to order a digital and bodily duplicate of Ash. The robotic is programmed utilizing his phrases and behaviors and is so shut in type and performance that it creates a real-life uncanny valley impact. Ultimately, the similarities are too shut for consolation, and Martha locks the automaton within the attic.
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It is value noting that the digital duplicate is an idea that the present has returned to repeatedly, too. For example, the season 3 episode “San Junipero” makes use of it to discover digital post-death retirement. The season 4 episode U.S.S. Callister (together with its uncommon sequel episode in season 7) options the idea as a solution to construct a complete sci-fi crew in a online game. And do not forget when it is infamously used to create dwelling assistants within the season 2 finale, “White Christmas” (the episode that impressed Apple’s sci-fi sequence “Severance”).
It does not take a lot to see how the “Be Proper Again” idea has already has begun to infiltrate actual life. The appearance of AI lately has made the creation of an android Ash far more lifelike. The bodily components would nonetheless be a problem, however AI applications are already able to a sure diploma of copying people — and in 2022, at re:Mars convention, Amazon revealed know-how that would mimic a human voice. This was instantly pegged to “Black Mirror” and labeled as a nasty thought for apparent causes. However, the know-how is right here, and it is only a matter of time till somebody is keen to make use of it.
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2. Dangle the DJ set the stage for contemporary relationship
The season 4 episode “Dangle the DJ” explored relationship from a unique approach, one pushed by synthetic intelligence. The episode got here out in late 2017, and it adopted Amy (Georgina Campbell) and Frank (Joe Cole) as they navigated an odd relationship program the place each relationship has a pre-set expiration date. Ultimately, they discover each other and collectively, they get away of the compound the place this system takes place, solely to seek out that they’re digital recreations of their real-world selves. Out of 1,000 such recreations, 998 of them insurgent collectively, revealing that their “true” selves are match based on — await it — their cutting-edge relationship app.
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Quick ahead to mid-2024. Whitney Wolfe Herd is the CEO of the favored relationship app Bumble, and she or he revealed a brand new “AI relationship concierge” function coming to the app. This is what she needed to say about it (through Fortune):
“If you wish to get actually on the market, there’s a world the place your (AI) relationship concierge may go and date for you with different relationship concierge. Really. After which you do not have to speak to 600 folks. It’s going to scan all of San Fransisco for you and say: ‘These are the three folks you actually oughta meet.'”
Yeah. No matter when it lastly comes out, it seems to be just like the age of digital relationship concierge took lower than a decade to translate from the sci-fi display screen to a real-life risk.
3. Nosedive is the precursor to the depths of social media hell
Most “Black Mirror” episodes have a darkly disturbing facet to their premises, however that wasn’t the case with “Nosedive.” The seemingly innocuous season 3 episode got here out in 2016 and follows Lacie Pound (Bryce Dallas Howard), a determined socialite in search of a approach to enhance her already cheap repute. The episode reveals a world the place you may solely entry good issues when you have a excessive approval score out of your friends. Trying to up her sport from a 4.2 out of 5 stars to one thing extra elite, she units out for a high-profile marriage ceremony. En route and through the marriage ceremony, she fully tanks her rating, resulting in an arrest and the conclusion that she will lastly insult others with out worry of shedding anything.
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The spunky episode is a incredible tackle social media, and it does not take a lot to see the real-world parallels. The place issues get prescient, although, is the need to tie social standing to entry and success. In 2020, TechTimes reported that the Chinese language metropolis of Suzhou had “gone full-on ‘Black Mirror'” by launching an app with the disturbing title of the “Civility Code.” It’s designed to observe and price the social conduct of its residents. Every particular person begins with 1,000 factors and may earn them by means of issues like volunteering, or lose them by means of one thing like a site visitors violation. Whereas localized, the real-world instance is a terrifying reminder of the potential of social media past the hellscape of FOMO and doomscrolling.
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4. Fifteen Million Deserves heralded microtransactions
Let’s head again to season 1, the place the second-ever “Black Mirror” episode, “Fifteen Million Deserves,” compelled everybody to re-evaluate their priorities. Together with tackling some deep moral dilemmas, the expertise quietly doubled as a warning of the dawning period of the microtransaction. The episode, which got here out in 2011, follows Bing (Daniel Kaluuya) in a futuristic world the place people interact in mundane duties like using a stationary bike to generate energy. This earns Bing compensation known as Deserves, which he can use to pay for his needs and desires.
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There are quite a lot of components of this one which resonate strongly with the trendy, digital-first way of life, however let’s give attention to the performance of Bing’s futuristic world for a second. In his day by day life, Bing pays for issues by means of fast microtransactions. He cashes in 5 deserves for toothpaste and much more to easily skip an advert. Within the practically decade and a half because the episode got here out, the evolution of the Web, social media, and know-how basically has made microtransactions a traditional incidence in on a regular basis life. From enjoying video video games to watching tv to going to the automotive wash, compensation, bills, and financial belongings basically are digitized. The period of chilly, onerous money has formally been resigned to the dustbin of historical past.
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5. The Whole Historical past of You explored bio-integrated design
Two of the three episodes in “Black Mirror” season 1 featured a number of of probably the most poignant predictions of the whole present. Whereas the second episode tackled microtransactions, the brief season’s finale, “The Whole Historical past of You,” went for a barely extra superior thought: brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). These are applied sciences that set up direct communication pathways with the mind and exterior gadgets. Within the season 1 finale, Liam Foxwell (Toby Kebbell) lives in a society the place most individuals have a “grain” implanted behind their eyes to file what they see and supply immediate playback when desired.
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The self-surveillance biotech finds its approach into the present in different episodes, too. The season 3 episode “Playtest,” for example, incorporates a gaming know-how that attaches to the temple and interacts instantly with the mind. The tech exhibits up once more in later seasons — and now in actual life, as effectively.
In early 2025, Elon Musk reported the third profitable Neuralink implant. These direct-to-brain computer systems join nervous techniques to machines, enabling people to suppose instructions that a pc can perceive. Whereas it is going to be some time earlier than they’re used to play intricate video games or file all the pieces we see, the fledgling know-how is beginning to snowball, and the “Black Mirror” prediction, already made true basically, may turn into much more of a actuality earlier than lengthy.
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6. Metalhead predicted robotic canines in scary correct element
Typically, “Black Mirror’s” sci-fi takes are seemingly benign and disturbingly mundane. Each infrequently, although, it wanders from the system, and within the case of the penultimate episode of season 4, “Metalhead,” it goes full-on suspense thriller. The easy episode follows Bella (Maxine Peake) as she’s pursued by means of an apocalyptic panorama by robotic canines tasked with killing her. Little or no of the bigger situation is explored, and a lot of the expertise has audiences on the sting of their seats as Bella rages towards the machine for her very survival.
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Now, robots and robotics aren’t actually a “prediction” in a strict sense. When the episode got here out in 2017, everybody and their mom knew that this was the longer term. However the look of these robots? Effectively, that is the place issues get eerie. There have been a number of robotic iterations since “Metalhead” got here out that had similarities to the “Black Mirror” doomsday killer canine. One instance got here in August of 2022 when the US House Pressure introduced (through the Day by day Mail) that it was testing “robotic canines” to assist perform patrols. These had been outfitted with an antenna, and a few variations had been examined with a sniper rifle that would shoot practically 4,000 toes with accuracy. The comparability to the “Black Mirror” demise canines is just too sturdy to disregard. Who would have thought man’s greatest buddy could be the herald of his personal apocalypse, proper?
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