These two episodes of Black Mirror really shows us how society may become one day. A society where we can relive our lives in a different way like in San Junipero and one where we have devices that record everything we do. I think that if a place like San Junipero were to really exist, humans would lose most of their drive to live. Why would you spend so much time and work on a life that could be relived in a better world? While it may be a chance for people who had their lives taken from them, like Yorkie who was disabled for a majority of her life, San Junipero was a place where she lived to be the person she couldn’t be in real life. For someone like me, if I had a chance at life again, I wouldn’t take it, in all honesty. Haven’t I suffered enough in this one life time with dealing with people I don’t want to ever see again but in this second life time, I’m stuck with them forever. Theres also no guarantee that in relaity, this San Junipero would be like “heaven”, meaning whose to say that everyone there is actually a “normal” person.

While in the episode, a somewhat similar idea but in a different fashion, the Grain. The ability for a small piece of technology to be implanted in ones brain and record their lives until the end of time seems to create more problems than it benefits. On one hand, you can see the breakdown of relationships because the idea of trust is brought into play, but with evidence now. When Fi cheated on Liam, there was proof of that. It also breaks the relationship between friends because of the same issue, trust. In my opinion, technology like this has yet to be needed to this extent. Maybe there are some benefits like how the Grain and warn one against driving while intoxicated, as seen in the episode, but are there really times in life that one has to re-watch the events they experienced before? To me, the answer is no and in relaity kind of scary as well.

In “San Junipero,” two women named Kelly and Yorkie meet in a beachside town and form a special connection. As the episode unfolds, however, we learn this isn’t any simple tourist destination, but a virtual reality playground for the dead and terminally ill, where you’re assigned era-specific outfits and dope Barbie cars. As each creeps closer to death in the flesh, the two grapple with whether they should continue their relationship in the virtual world,  to “pass over” rather than “pass away.” In other words, they live in a future where they can choose to either disappear, or have a replica of their human consciousness uploaded to the all-powerful cloud, existing in a fantasy land forever.

I don’t think it’s possible, because  transferring our consciousness to a computer to be remotely feasible, not only would we need a computer capable of handling the computational load of our brains and of replicating the complicated web of neural connections, we’d also need a method for transferring the parts of our brains that make us who we are to a computer: our memories, our unique way of processing information, our personal quirks, all into a digital format. The things we don’t know about the brain vastly outnumber the things that we do know, making building an artificial brain a tough task.

I found both of these episodes of Black Mirror to be really interesting. In the episode titled “History of You” people in this society have a tiny grain implanted in the back of their ears. This grain records anything they hear, speak or see and they can access these memories anytime on a TV or their eye. I thought this was a really cool thing to have until Liam practically went insane after going through many redos. These grains could also be an invasion of privacy. Someone could force a person to play one of their memories on a video player. The grains are also similar to social media today. Anyone could see what you post on social media. A lot of times, social media users post their memories such as pictures or thoughts. Things that were posted in the past can be brought up and be damaging to a person’s life. In the episode, the grain destroyed the marriage of Liam and his wife.

The episode San Junipero is about a simulation that deceased or elderly get uploaded into a simulation where they could be in their younger bodies. In the beginning I didn’t think much of the episode. Later on in the episode, I learn that Torkie and Kelly are in a simulation and that they are actually really old. I thought this was a really interesting idea. A way for anyone to live forever, even after they die. Although this might sound nice, to never die, I feel like life could get boring. Personally, I don’t think I would want to be put into San Junipero. I feel like knowing that I am in a simulation, I would realize that there really isn’t a purpose in this simulation so what is the purpose of living.