Technology: A Burden on Human Interaction and Experience

Black Mirror, Episode 3, “The Entire History of You”: Total Redo, is a provocative film designed to give the viewer a glimpse of a possible scenario in the future that is not too distant from the present and in actuality we are capable of producing a similar outcome with the current technologies (though not in real time and with some complication as wires and hard drives, etc.). Total Redo is fascinating and frightening because it takes the familiar technologies readily available to us and combines them into one memory chip “the grain” to record and store everything that has been seen. This concept can be seen as an advancement in technology but it can also be seen as another way of how humans are becoming less human by distorting human interaction and experience.

The grain can be seen as an advantage, capable of recording everything that the user witnesses with minimal effort and in doing so the grain has endless functions. In addition, the grain has the very handy feature of projecting the videotape for review by the user through his/her eyes or for the public through an external screen. This recall feature has endless advantages because the user could recall anything he/she witnessed. This could help law enforcement agencies apprehend suspects, find lost items, recall a paragraph from a book during a test, or even recall the list of groceries your mom told you but you forgot; the list goes on and on. Another important purpose that Total Redo shows is that the world is more connected (with the use of the grain) by having the ability to recall the daily lives of one another. It creates a sense of connectivity because instead of just trying to describe an event, one can view it together and sort of experience it, at least view what the user witnessed.

However, this very same feature of “endless functions” can turn the grain into a tool and instead of supplementing the human capacity it can become a burden. Human interaction and experience is supposed to be unique and finite. Total Recall shows a near distant life where the grain is part of lifestyle and where it is normal to record and be recorded by others. The grain allows everyone to record everything you say and do, which can be seen as an invasion of privacy, in addition to it being scary because the user can over analysis every single step one makes. This drastically effects human interaction because for instance embarrassing or disturbing moments can be viewed over and over. Lastly, the grain effects human interaction because human interaction is supposed to be spontaneous and if one is constantly preoccupied with how one sees oneself then how will someone feel when they know they are forever recorded? People would not want to interact out of fear of messing up or being too critical of oneself and prefer to plan their interactions.

The second disturbing part of the grain is that recalling a video is not the same thing as experiencing.  Sure, I can recall the time I escalated the Aztec pyramids in Mexico and show it to my friends but it is not the same thing as actually being there. My friends will not be able to feel the exhaustion that I felt after reaching the top of the pyramid and raising my arms in an upward motion signaling my conquest! My friends would, instead view the clip and say, “wow what an impressive climb, let me show you my neighbor’s dog taking a shit on my yard.” Did my friends actually experience what I experienced? Or were we playing, “let the best video win?” The grain takes from experience by claiming that it can share an experience when it actually cannot.

As seen technology has its advantages; however, are we ready to fully embrace a connected lifestyle that distorts human interaction and experience? I think not. Regardless of the technology one cannot fully experience another one’s experience. Experience is subjective not objective. Therefore, a new technology, as the grain, cannot bring us close to being a human because being a human means being imperfect.