The Perennial Temptation: To Be as Gods

The seventh season of Black Mirror starts off with a warning about solutions to serious problems too good to be true. Like cheap introductory subscription prices. Or virtual immortality.

In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis suggests that technology functions as a bait-and-switch: Users think they’re getting power, but they’re actually giving up their freedom. “What we call Man’s power is, in reality, a power possessed by some men which they may, or may not, allow other men to profit by.” Lewis suggests the “aeroplane, the wireless, and contraceptive” as examples: Each presents the illusion of power. Through flight and the phone, one conquers distance; through the contraceptive, one prevents nature from taking its course. All offer a kind of “freedom” from natural restrictions. But the individual person does none of the things promised—the power really belongs to the one who owns the technology. Payment for use of the technology allows the individual to act as if the purchased abilities are his own. Flight companies could ban individuals from air travel; Verizon could theoretically prevent people from speaking over distances. Pharmaceutical or insurance companies could limit access to contraception—or for that matter any of their products.

This dynamic—technology promising freedom yet requiring the yielding of control to those who own it—appears on full display in the latest season of Netflix’s Black Mirror. The opening episode, “Common People,” suggests that technology that leads to true flourishing must begin with valuing the human person. “Common People” is set in a near-future Earth and proves a well-executed example of modern science fiction, with a story all too plausible, one that offers a needed critique of one kind of technological application.

“Common People” focuses on a lifesaving brain-based technology. The two protagonists, Amanda (played by Rashida Jones), and her husband, Mike (Chris O’Dowd), are a sweet couple. She is an elementary school teacher; he is a welder. They want children but have not yet had them. They’re financially stable, yet have little margin. One day Amanda passes out and enters a coma. The initial prognosis: an inoperable brain tumor. But a new experimental treatment, Rivermind, just might offer hope. (Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

Rivermind is the technological plot device that allows the show to introduce predatory capitalism at its worst. Riverside makes a copy of the brain and then replaces the tumor tissue with “synthetic receiver tissue” that allows the “Riverminder” to resume normal life with part of his personality beamed from Riverminder towers. This lifesaving treatment exists at a startup price of $300 per month (yes, it’s a subscription service, not unlike Netflix’s own). Over the course of the following year, Amanda is able to resume her life. But things begin shifting. Suddenly, Amanda’s conversation is filled with ads for “Honey Nugs” cereal, specific brands of coffee, and even a “faith-based counseling service” when one of her students shares about his parents’ divorce.

Furthermore, Rivermind informs Amanda that she is now on Rivermind Common, a level that uses her brain for processing power while she sleeps and runs context-placed ads. To go ad-free, she needs to upgrade to Rivermind Plus, for an additional $500 per month (now $800 per month total). It’s at this point in the story that Amanda’s lack of control becomes evident: She cannot control her speech, her sleep cycle, or her professional ability to teach children. In an effort to increase their income to pay the Rivermind bills, Mike begins performing extreme acts on Dum Dummies, a website where you can livestream absurd stunts (like drinking your own urine) and have viewers pay you. Eventually, he loses his job when his channel is discovered by co-workers.

With neither Mike nor Amanda employed, they cannot keep up with Riverside+ payments, and Amanda is reduced to a walking advertisement who sleeps 16 hours a day, except in months where Mike finds enough odd jobs to make a Riverside+ payment. Eventually, they decide that Amanda’s life is not worth preserving, and Mike kills her with a pillow.

“Common People” is a tragedy, and part of what makes it so relatable is Mike’s strength as a husband. He is a positive figure seeking to care for his wife. Each step along the way is reasonable: Of course he should try the experimental treatment when the alternative is death. Of course he should try to earn side cash from the internet to buy his wife a better experience. But by the end of the story, the viewer is left convinced that Rivermind is built upon the suffering and processing power of ordinary people. It is not a critique of capitalism per se, but rather points to the possibility of technological enslavement.

In the logic of the story, Amanda should have died just after her coma. Rivermind’s power rests in extending life, but in so doing they offered her a product she could never cease using. And herein lies the possibility of modern technology. Nature upholds certain barriers, scientific study enables the precise understanding of those barriers, and businesses offer the possibility of transcending those barriers for a cost. This perspective is, to some degree, the modern view of reality. Here C.S. Lewis’s insight is dramatized: Individuals do not get freedom in this exchange. Instead, they trade their freedom for reliance upon another’s strength. And in so doing, new problems arise.

In The Magician’s Nephew, Lewis addresses the same question. Digory Kirke’s mother is dying for most of the book, and Digory always has restoring her to health in the back of his mind. He overhears Aunt Lettie discussing a mystical “Apple of Youth” and wonders if he could find such a cure. Once he is in Narnia, Aslan sends him on a short quest to retrieve an apple that will protect Narnia from the White Witch; when he arrives at the garden, Digory perceives that this apple could heal his mother. The Witch seizes the moment and tempts him to steal the apple and return home. He does not do so. When he returns, Aslan tells Digory what would have happened: “Understand, then, that it would have healed her, but not to your joy or hers. The day would have come when both you and she would have looked back and said it would have been better to die in that illness.”

Solving problems of human existence is not sufficient; such problems must be solved in the right way, at the right time, and to the right extent. There is an art (ars) to such solution rather than a mere technique (techne). Technological promises like Rivermind address a felt need, but they do so in a way that brings pain, heartache, and enslavement. Aslan does not leave Digory in misery: “That is what would have happened, child, with a stolen apple. It is not what will happen now. What I give you now will bring joy. It will not, in your world, give endless life, but it will heal. Go. Pluck her an apple from the Tree.” In contrast to Rivermind’s transactional nature, Aslan’s apple is pure gift. There are no strings attached, no hidden fees, no bureaucratic structure. And the gift brings healing.

Science fiction has the unique task of engaging the imagination and considering how human life could change given different technology But the genre succeeds in as much as two conditions are met. First, the world must be believable as a secondary reality; second, the consideration of human nature must reflect reality. “Common People” meets both conditions. This near-future world is set in a somewhat small town, with people pursuing recognizable lives and typical careers—in short, the protagonists are realistically portrayed and respond to pressures almost anyone could encounter in real life. Such a setting invites the viewer to consider the plausibility of the technological challenge.

Moreover, the story is rooted in a sound understanding of human nature. This is as much about a marriage as it is about technology. A husband who loves his wife, a couple who want children, and a wife with an unexpected and life-threatening brain condition—these things could plausibly happen to any viewer and so the drama resonates. “Common People” asks viewers to weigh the potential tradeoffs in a new technology. Perhaps a new startup claims to overcome nature, to solve some direct felt need. In such a case, one must ask, At what cost? It’s a question we’ll all be asking more frequently day by day.

Source: https://rlo.acton.org/archives/127200-the-perennial-temptation-to-be-as-gods.html