“Black Mirror”: Episode White Christmas

Speaking of a dystopian lens of technology, it’s hard not to include Black Mirror’s “White Christmas,” which itself is three stories packed into one very dystopian episode. However, the story I’m thinking about is when Jon Hamm’s character played what appears to be very close to a residential integrator albeit one that operates on the fringes of ethical boundaries.

In the story, Hamm’s character trains digital clones of his clients to act as personal assistants inside devices that very much look like an Amazon Echo or Google Home smart speaker. However, this digital clone—who was created with her real self’s permission–is at first an unwilling participant trapped in a white world of nothingness except for a control panel that automates their real self’s work and personal lives. The clone at first refuses to cooperate and work as her real self’s intelligent assistant, so this forces Hamm’s character to simulate six months passing in the digital clone’s world, which ultimately breaks the digital clone’s spirit.

We all want our own personalized experience with technology, but maybe we should stop short of kidnapping a digital clone of ourselves.