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‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

nytimes.com

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Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#141

Post by worldsayshi »

anonred wrote: post #122
worldsayshi wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think was so scary about it?

Also not the GP, but I think San Junipero goes beyond just the inevitability of aging and death. It hits upon the meaninglessness of both life and a hypothetical afterlife. Although the people of San Junipero “live” in paradise, their existence borders on the hedonistic: thrill-seeking, sex, and drugs (alcohol.) Is a life of this nature worth living? The characters in the episode certainly seem to think so. Yet, I’d…

The short story Metamorphosis of prime intellect deals with the same theme, you may be interested:

http://localroger.com/prime-intellect/

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#142

Post by qq66 »

rorykoehler wrote: post #82
qq66 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not had a single bad experience with buying from eBay sellers with >99.8% feedback, but multiple bad experiences buying unusual items from <99% sellers that I couldn't find with better sellers. It's worked well for me.

Generally on ebay I assume you are buying a mass produced product. If you receive it in time and it's not broken then you're happy? How about more subjective things like Yelp reviews? Edit: I don't buy on ebay however rating brigading has made reviews/ratings on amazon practically useless for products I've never used before.

Generally, I'm buying old camera equipment (25-60 years old). The condition of these items varies widely. The 99.8% sellers take every trouble to find every scratch / fleck of dust / etc. and photograph/document it. The For Yelp, I've found that a 4+ star restaurant with >100 reviews is almost always good, although I wouldn't say that I can detect a difference between 4-star and 5-star places.

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#143

Post by Ntrails »

calsy wrote: post #127
kerbalspacepro wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Netflix bloat is what is sometimes wrong with Netflix. Scenes are sometimes a little bit too long in a lot of series. For example, unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's second season was weaker than the first because the original was made for TV but the second was made for Netflix. This led to the same number of jokes being placed in a longer block of time, and therefore a decrease in the #ofJokes/minute.

That is highly subjective. You are referring to a single show where the quality of writing that season may have suffered rather than anything related to the Netflix platform. Pulling at straws.

Sorry, to be clear I have no issue with netflix. However doubling the length of the season and any switch of sponsor carries some risk of deviation from the norm - which was very very high quality imo.

I didn't mean to imply that I thought netflix bad Channel4 good (i think it came from there).

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#144

Post by sriku »

acconrad wrote: post #44
danso wrote: post #4

I've only watched 3 of the episodes (Playtest, Shut Up and Dance, and Hated in the Nation)...I've heard the other 3 episodes were better, but the 3 that I have watched seemed subpar compared to the previous 2 seasons. Not terrible as far as overall TV goes, but after the plot thrills were over, they just didn't leave the same queasiness-about-possible-future-dystopia that "White Bear", "White Christmas", "Entire Hist…

San Junipero was nice in that it was the only episode in the season that wasn't completely dystopian, I won't give it away any more than that. Personally, Shut Up and Dance was my favorite episode, as it was on the level of White Bear as being so insanely messed up. Also one of my favorite albums is OK Computer by Radiohead, so when Exit Music (For a Film) played, just wow.

You might like "Everyone in Silico" too [1]. Almost felt like San Junipero was based on that. EiS paints quite a dystopia, but was more believable. Looking forward to reading Rabin Hanson's "The Age of Ems".

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everyone_in_Silico

Re: ‘Black Mirror’ Finds Terror, and Soul, in the Machine

#145

Post by anonred »

worldsayshi wrote: post #141
anonred wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also not the GP, but I think San Junipero goes beyond just the inevitability of aging and death. It hits upon the meaninglessness of both life and a hypothetical afterlife. Although the people of San Junipero “live” in paradise, their existence borders on the hedonistic: thrill-seeking, sex, and drugs (alcohol.) Is a life of this nature worth living? The characters in the episode certainly seem to think so. Yet, I’d…

The short story Metamorphosis of prime intellect deals with the same theme, you may be interested: http://localroger.com/prime-intellect/

Great read. Thank you for the recommendation.
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