Page 49 - Discover Winter 2023

Charlie's Chatter
Artificial Intelligence
I just finished streaming “The Black
Mirror”, a Netflix original program. I
simultaneously loved it and hated it.
As the title suggests, it is a series with
very dark overtones. All of the episodes have
discrete story lines with their own individual
settings and plots.
Most of them are would-be glimpses
into a dystopian near future, featuring what
may be the logical results of our fascination
with cyber-technology,
and usually with
decidedly unpleasant
outcomes. The series title
“Black Mirror” is a likely
reference to the screens HARLIE’S
of our cell phones and C What I thought was
tablets. HATTER
One particularly
disturbing episode
involves humans being
hunted down and killed by robotic dogs with
artificial intelligence, which appears to be
analogous to SkyNet being self-aware. The
over-arching theme of the series as a whole
seems to be that in the end, technology always
gets the better of us. Instead of being their
masters, we are in danger of becoming their
slaves.
I suppose that part of the problem is
that the human race as a whole has a tendency
toward self-destructive behavior. Our sense of
right and wrong is often blurred or obscured in
favor of our desire for instant gratification.
By Charles Alexander
One thing that is already clear is
that handheld devices have a propensity for
dehumanizing us, and rather than bringing us
closer together, it seems to have the opposite
effect.
In the here and now, there is a popular
meme of a frustrated grandfather sitting with
his grandchild, who is absorbed with her
smartphone, not considering the inevitably
finite nature of her time with Grandpa.
Naturally, we view this on our own digital
screens, shake our
heads, and scroll on. The
medium simultaneously
mocks itself, and us, for
merrily we scroll along.
the series finale turned
out to be an attempt at
an interactive movie, in
which the viewer is asked
to make choices that will
affect the plot line. It didn’t work out that way
for me, though.
I had decided that I would turn in for the
night at the end of this episode… but it seemed
to last an impossibly long time. Scenes kept
replaying as if they hadn’t played already, and
with different outcomes. That’s when I checked
the timeline of the video, and discovered to my
horror that the total run time was in excess of
four and a half hours.
Needless to say, I was nonplussed. This
couldn’t possibly be right for a roughly one hour
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