Film Clip (143)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 12 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Cooper, a world traveller whose father recently died of Alzheimer’s disease, is payed to play-test a virtual reality game in which a brain-computer interface will be inserted through his neck in order to place his consciousness into a horror scenario in which he is plagued by his deepest fears. After several terrifying vignettes, he begins to lose all of his memories, mirroring his ultimate concern of succumbing to Alzheimer’s like his father and continuing to ignore or forget his mother. After this, he appears to be rescued by the game’s managers, but the truth of his real-life situation is later revealed to be far more gruesome.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 12 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Personalized and Occupational Dangers of Digital Realities
Cooper, a world traveller whose father recently died of Alzheimer’s disease, is payed to play-test a virtual reality game in which a brain-computer interface will be inserted through his neck in order to place his consciousness into a horror scenario in which he is plagued by his deepest fears. After several terrifying vignettes, he begins to lose all of his memories, mirroring his ultimate concern of succumbing to Alzheimer’s like his father and continuing to ignore or forget his mother. After this, he appears to be rescued by the game’s managers, but the truth of his real-life situation is later revealed to be far more gruesome.
Is it ethical to use human subjects to test digital games or realities involving personal psychological processes? What might some alternatives be? How can the safety of subjects be ensured? How can scientists ensure brain-computer interfaces are safe before trying them out on human brains? Can this ever be done ethically? How could technology which mines ones deepest psychological fears be used or abused outside of entertainment purposes?
Black Mirror: Cooper Arrives at Saito Games-
- 15 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Detective Shazia Akhand is assigned to investigate the case of a man who was hit by a pizza truck in the street to help him build a case. She uses a brain-computer interface to read the memories of both the man hit by the truck and other witnesses, where the vague, abstract images are projected onto a screen. One of these witnesses includes Mia, a serial killer whose former crimes are revealed during her interview. In order to erase any footage or evidence of her murders, Mia continues her killing spree by wiping out Shazia and her family. However, Mia is eventually caught through the memories of an unlikely source.
- Kinolab
- 2017
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- 15 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Digital Memory Projection and Walking Surveillance Cameras
Detective Shazia Akhand is assigned to investigate the case of a man who was hit by a pizza truck in the street to help him build a case. She uses a brain-computer interface to read the memories of both the man hit by the truck and other witnesses, where the vague, abstract images are projected onto a screen. One of these witnesses includes Mia, a serial killer whose former crimes are revealed during her interview. In order to erase any footage or evidence of her murders, Mia continues her killing spree by wiping out Shazia and her family. However, Mia is eventually caught through the memories of an unlikely source.
Should police or detectives be able to view memories for interrogation reasons? Where should the line be drawn in these cases? What are the issues with tasking precise digital technologies with extracting and showing abstract memories? How could this technology be manipulated to make subjective memories seem objective? How might this sort of technology makes witnesses to crimes more targeted? How is this concept similar and different to the idea that anyone could accidentally or intentionally be capturing anything on a phone camera? Should technology be created that essentially allows anyone to be a walking surveillance camera?
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Kelly and Yorkie, two women near death in the real world, meet and start a relationship with one another in San Junipero, a virtual reality program which hosts both “visitors” (older living people who spend small increments of time within) and “residents” (humans who have died and have had their consciousness uploaded to the cloud). The program is accessed via a brain-computer interface, which allows the humans to alter their own appearance and the appearance of the town according to their wishes. Once it is revealed that Yorkie plans to pass away and upload her consciousness into San Junipero permanently, Kelly is faced with a hard choice.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Afterlives and Liberation in Digital Utopias
Kelly and Yorkie, two women near death in the real world, meet and start a relationship with one another in San Junipero, a virtual reality program which hosts both “visitors” (older living people who spend small increments of time within) and “residents” (humans who have died and have had their consciousness uploaded to the cloud). The program is accessed via a brain-computer interface, which allows the humans to alter their own appearance and the appearance of the town according to their wishes. Once it is revealed that Yorkie plans to pass away and upload her consciousness into San Junipero permanently, Kelly is faced with a hard choice.
How do digital worlds and platforms allow people a space for self-exploration and liberation that might not be possible in the real world? What are the positive outcomes of people being able to shape their identity as they please in digital worlds, especially as it relates to marginalized identities such as people in the LGBTQIA+ community? If digital immortality is to become a reality, how should it be presented/regulated? How should its creators avoid it becoming a sort of “trap”? Given the various secular and religious views on the afterlife, how could an agreed vision of a digital afterlife be reached?
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- 15 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
CW: Violence and Genocide
Stripe is a soldier in a generic war who, like all of his other fellow soldiers, is connected to a brain-computer interface known as a MASS implant that provides him with information about targets and missions. The supposed goal of the fighting is to “protect” citizens from roaches, the disturbing humanoid monsters which Stripe hunts and kills within the cabin. Directly after Stripe is hit with a digital device held by one of the roaches, he watches his squadmate kill a “roach” that Stripe perceived as a human. Ultimately, one of the roaches and the military psychologist Arquette explain exactly how the MASS implants alter the soldiers’ perceptions of their surroundings and their targets.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 15 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
The Militarization of the Digital Alteration of Reality
CW: Violence and Genocide
Stripe is a soldier in a generic war who, like all of his other fellow soldiers, is connected to a brain-computer interface known as a MASS implant that provides him with information about targets and missions. The supposed goal of the fighting is to “protect” citizens from roaches, the disturbing humanoid monsters which Stripe hunts and kills within the cabin. Directly after Stripe is hit with a digital device held by one of the roaches, he watches his squadmate kill a “roach” that Stripe perceived as a human. Ultimately, one of the roaches and the military psychologist Arquette explain exactly how the MASS implants alter the soldiers’ perceptions of their surroundings and their targets.
How are digital technologies responsible for pushing “us vs. them” narratives relating to wars? How could VR technology make soldiers less sympathetic to their victims? What role might smaller-scale virtual realities, such as violent video games, play in this larger narrative? Should the military ever have unfettered access to cutting-edge digital development? How can empathy be prioritized in the digital age?
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
In this extreme imagination of social media, detectives Karin Parke and Blue Coulson try to discover the correlation between two recent deaths. They first interrogate a teacher who posted “#DeathTo @JoPowersWriter” along with a photo of controversial journalist Jo Powers on the day before Jo was found dead. The teacher discusses the popularity of this message and the hashtag, sharing that an entire online community split the cost of sending Jo a hateful message on a cake. Later on, the detectives discover that these deaths were determined by bots and the trending of the #DeathTo, and that whichever name had the most hits under this hashtag were hunted down and killed by a mysterious force.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Social Media Trends and Hive Mind Justice
In this extreme imagination of social media, detectives Karin Parke and Blue Coulson try to discover the correlation between two recent deaths. They first interrogate a teacher who posted “#DeathTo @JoPowersWriter” along with a photo of controversial journalist Jo Powers on the day before Jo was found dead. The teacher discusses the popularity of this message and the hashtag, sharing that an entire online community split the cost of sending Jo a hateful message on a cake. Later on, the detectives discover that these deaths were determined by bots and the trending of the #DeathTo, and that whichever name had the most hits under this hashtag were hunted down and killed by a mysterious force.
How does this relate to the phenomenon of “cancel culture” in the real world? How can buzzwords commonly used online translate poorly into real life? How can digital social media be re-imagined so that users are less susceptible to “trends” started by bots? Is there a possibility that social media might give too much power or too high of a platform to the general population?
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- 11 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Detectives Karin Parke and Blue Coulson work together to put an end to the series of mysterious murders perpetrated by the #DeathTo trend on social media. In this “Game of Consequences,” the person most mentioned under this hashtag each day becomes the target of ADIs, government drones shaped like bees, to track down and kill. This trend was spurred by bots on social media, drawing many people into participation, and a sole hacker was responsible both for the bots and for the abuse of the drones. After the detectives fail to protect one victim of the #DeathTo trend, they attempt to shut down the malware, but instead discover a large data mine and unleash a much more massive danger.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 11 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Hacked Drones and Targeting Citizens
Detectives Karin Parke and Blue Coulson work together to put an end to the series of mysterious murders perpetrated by the #DeathTo trend on social media. In this “Game of Consequences,” the person most mentioned under this hashtag each day becomes the target of ADIs, government drones shaped like bees, to track down and kill. This trend was spurred by bots on social media, drawing many people into participation, and a sole hacker was responsible both for the bots and for the abuse of the drones. After the detectives fail to protect one victim of the #DeathTo trend, they attempt to shut down the malware, but instead discover a large data mine and unleash a much more massive danger.
Can the “unreal” nature of digital platform ever truly remove harmful intent from inflammatory words or statements? How should “free speech” be regulated on platforms where not everything can be taken literally? How can the information available about a person through their social media use be abused to make them targets? Should the government use cutting-edge digital technology if there is even the slightest chance that it can be abused? Are there requisite consequences to showing a lack of empathy toward others on digital platforms?