On Friday, Flora’s Friday Film showed an episode of Black Mirror, a British science fiction series that examines the unexpected consequences of advancements in technology.  We watched the episode “The Entire History of You” which centered around an implant that allows people to record what they see and hear every moment of their lives, while having the option to delete any records if desired.  The protagonist Liam obsessively analyzes situations at work and at home when things do not seem to be going his way.  For example, he compares how his wife behaves around her former boyfriend and him at a party.  Liam has suspicions that his wife was cheating on him, and he ultimately proved this to be true in a heated discussion and viewing of her wife’s memory implant records.  

The episode raised several important questions, which we discussed with GRF Ty afterwards.  For example, would we want this kind of technology (an implant) if it existed in our society?  While thinking about the answer to this question, I thought how, to a certain extent, this technology already exists in our society.  How easy is it to find someone with his or her phone out on the street taking a picture or video?  And with wearable technology like Google Glass, it is even more effortless to record the world around us from our perspective.  Not to mention how many security cameras monitor people in public places at every moment.  

As a Computer Science major, I felt a strong connection to this episode, realizing the impact software and technology have on our lives.  Often, people obsess over what they have posted online in the past, going to great lengths to try and expunge content they do not want to see anymore.  Why do we obsess over the past when we cannot change it?  I think this episode is making the point that we should be wary of our tendency to fixate on memories of the past, so I would say instead we should focus on how we can positively impact the future.