The third episode of Black Mirror, The Entire History of You, explores the idea of memories. The episode take place in the future where nearly everyone has grains implanted behind their ears they record everything they hear, see and do. The memories can then be replayed in front of that person or on a screen for everyone to see.

There are times where I think the grain is useful. It would make court-cases easier because you can see what happened and don’t have to rely on the testimony of two biased parties. On the other hand I would like to believe that people are trustworthy. Honesty is something that I really value and this technology would make me less likely to trust people. I would always want to see the proof and not truly trust anyone. I think trust and honesty are very important in developing interpersonal relationships. Liam clearly doesn’t trust Ffion when she talks about her relationship with Jonas and wants to see the proof. Once he finds out it ruins his relationship. He begins to live in the past and seems like he wants the relationship back. I suppose ignorance is bliss.

One of the big themes in the show, which was just briefly touched upon,  is the idea of living in the present versus living in the past. After the main character Liam breaks up with Ffion he begins to relive all the good moments he had with her. It is nearly impossible for him to move forward because he keeps replaying what happened in the past. In order to move forward he is forced to remove his grain. Is this technology of the future really just keeping us stuck in the past? I think in order to move forward as a society we can’t be stuck living in the past. Can you imagine all the moments you would relive wondering what you could have done differently?

Overall I think while it is a cool technology in theory, in practice it would cause more problems than it would solve.