All Narratives (328)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
At some point in the near future, Martha’s husband Ash dies in a car accident. In order to help Martha through the grieving process, her friend Sara gives Ash’s data to a company which can create an artificial intelligence program to simulate text and phone conversations between Martha and Ash. Eventually, this program is uploaded onto a robot which has the exact likeness of the deceased Ash. Upon feeling creeped out by the humanoid robot and its imprecision in terms of capturing Ash’s personality, Martha wants nothing more than to keep the robot out of her sight.
- Kinolab
- 2013
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- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
Martha and Ash Part II: Digital Revival and Human Likeness in Hardware
At some point in the near future, Martha’s husband Ash dies in a car accident. In order to help Martha through the grieving process, her friend Sara gives Ash’s data to a company which can create an artificial intelligence program to simulate text and phone conversations between Martha and Ash. Eventually, this program is uploaded onto a robot which has the exact likeness of the deceased Ash. Upon feeling creeped out by the humanoid robot and its imprecision in terms of capturing Ash’s personality, Martha wants nothing more than to keep the robot out of her sight.
How can memories be kept pure when robots are able to impersonate deceased loved ones? If programs and robots such as this can be created, do we truly own our own existence? How can artificial intelligence fail as therapy or companionship? Can artificial intelligence and robotics help comfort people who never even met the deceased? How should an artificial companion be handled by its administrator? Can an animated or robotic humanoid likeness of a person who seemingly has feelings be relegated to the attic as easily as other mementos can?
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- 16 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
In a world in which social media is constantly visible, and in which the averaged five star rating for each person based on every single one of their interactions with others are displayed, Lacie tries to move into the higher echelons of society. She does this by consistently keeping up saccharine appearances in real life and on her social media feed because everyone is constantly connected to this technology. En route to an important wedding, she loses several points in her rating, yet still finds solace with a truck driver who offers her a ride. After releasing her true emotions at the wedding (from which she was ultimately disinvited for her low score), she is jailed and continues the release of her pent-up emotions. For further reading and real-life connections, see the narrative “Inside China’s Vast New Experiment in Social Ranking.”
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 16 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Lacie Part II: Everyday Influencers and “Keep Instagram Casual”
In a world in which social media is constantly visible, and in which the averaged five star rating for each person based on every single one of their interactions with others are displayed, Lacie tries to move into the higher echelons of society. She does this by consistently keeping up saccharine appearances in real life and on her social media feed because everyone is constantly connected to this technology. En route to an important wedding, she loses several points in her rating, yet still finds solace with a truck driver who offers her a ride. After releasing her true emotions at the wedding (from which she was ultimately disinvited for her low score), she is jailed and continues the release of her pent-up emotions. For further reading and real-life connections, see the narrative “Inside China’s Vast New Experiment in Social Ranking.”
Are shallow interactions and the improbability of someone saying what they truly mean on a platform inherent to the design of digital social networks? How does social media put pressure on people to change events or relationships in their real life to keep up positive appearances? Consider movements such as “Keep Instagram Casual,” which implores users to post whatever they like, whenever they like, rather than being beholden to strict societal rules on what is acceptable to post. Can this occur with a user-centric push, or does something about the design of the platforms need to change? Does “digital niceness” actually benefit anyone? How do figures such as influencers take advantage of digital platforms to set social norms online and offline?
Black Mirror: The Truck Driver-
- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
In a world in which social media is constantly visible, and in which the averaged five star rating for each person based on every single one of their interactions with others are displayed, Lacie tries to move into the higher echelons of society. She does this by consistently keeping up saccharine appearances in real life and on her social media feed because everyone is constantly connected to this technology. Once she is spurred to up her rating, Lacie gets an invite to a high-profile wedding. However, after a few unfortunate events leave her seeming less desirable to others, thus lowering her rating, she finds her world far less accessible and kind. For further reading and real-life connections, see the narrative “Inside China’s Vast New Experiment in Social Ranking.”
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 8 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Lacie Part I: Translating Online Interactions and Social Quantification
In a world in which social media is constantly visible, and in which the averaged five star rating for each person based on every single one of their interactions with others are displayed, Lacie tries to move into the higher echelons of society. She does this by consistently keeping up saccharine appearances in real life and on her social media feed because everyone is constantly connected to this technology. Once she is spurred to up her rating, Lacie gets an invite to a high-profile wedding. However, after a few unfortunate events leave her seeming less desirable to others, thus lowering her rating, she finds her world far less accessible and kind. For further reading and real-life connections, see the narrative “Inside China’s Vast New Experiment in Social Ranking.”
How do digital platforms promote inauthenticity? Why do appearances matter more in the digital age? Can digital technologies ever truly perfectly mirror an in-person interaction? Do the shallower ways in which people communicate online translate well into the real world? How could digital social platforms do better at promoting longer connection instead of the instant gratification of likes or ratings? Should social media platforms be so focused on quantifying interactions, in terms of likes or comments or followers? How can this quantification be de-emphasized?
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
In this episode, Victoria wakes up with no memory of who she is in a post-apocalyptic scenario. She is chased and hunted by weapon-toting masked people, and gets no help from the bystanders who record her horrific struggle for survival on their smartphones. Eventually, it is revealed that this scenario is an engineered reality. While the digital technologies present here are limited, this narrative stands as an effective metaphor to study the phenomenon of “cancel culture” and other ways in which digital technologies alienate the humanity of others.
- Kinolab
- 2013
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2013
Fascination and Desensitization through Digital Technologies
In this episode, Victoria wakes up with no memory of who she is in a post-apocalyptic scenario. She is chased and hunted by weapon-toting masked people, and gets no help from the bystanders who record her horrific struggle for survival on their smartphones. Eventually, it is revealed that this scenario is an engineered reality. While the digital technologies present here are limited, this narrative stands as an effective metaphor to study the phenomenon of “cancel culture” and other ways in which digital technologies alienate the humanity of others.
Do smartphones and their recording capabilities make people less sensitive to events or phenomena which they capture? How do digital news channels or platforms sensationalize bad people, especially criminals or other wrong-doers, and inspire collective hatred? How can digital technologies be designed to be more empathetic? Why is it so easy to criticize others over digital channels?
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- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
In this brief clip, Matt explains that he was once “blocked” by his wife in real life. In this society, mostly everyone possesses a brain-computer interface. and are thus able to remove anyone they please from their experience of society and the world.
- Kinolab
- 2014
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- 2 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
The Realism and Consequences of “Blocking”
In this brief clip, Matt explains that he was once “blocked” by his wife in real life. In this society, mostly everyone possesses a brain-computer interface. and are thus able to remove anyone they please from their experience of society and the world.
Does “blocking” people in the digital world translate well to the real world? Is it realistic for humans to always be able to avoid people they don’t wish to see? What might people miss out on if they block everyone who they deem unfit of their attention? Do the positives of being able to block people in the digital world outweigh the negatives, or vice versa, or neither?
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- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
In this episode, Matt and Joe Potter, who inhabit the same cabin, tell each other short stories from their lives. Eventually, Joe Potter reveals that he killed his former father in law, and shortly after became responsible for the murdered man’s granddaughter freezing to death in the snow. Once he confesses this crime, it is revealed that Joe Potter is actually a digital consciousness trapped inside a virtual reality manipulated by Matt, designed in order to get his murder confession. Now having given a clear confession, his digital consciousness is sentenced to live inside a virtual reality, existing in nothingness for thousands of years.
- Kinolab
- 2014
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- 6 min
- Kinolab
- 2014
Digital Interrogation and Torture Methods
In this episode, Matt and Joe Potter, who inhabit the same cabin, tell each other short stories from their lives. Eventually, Joe Potter reveals that he killed his former father in law, and shortly after became responsible for the murdered man’s granddaughter freezing to death in the snow. Once he confesses this crime, it is revealed that Joe Potter is actually a digital consciousness trapped inside a virtual reality manipulated by Matt, designed in order to get his murder confession. Now having given a clear confession, his digital consciousness is sentenced to live inside a virtual reality, existing in nothingness for thousands of years.
How can virtual reality be abused? If law enforcement come to use virtual reality as an interrogation technique, what should the rules and regulations be? Is it ethical to administer such interrogation or torture techniques unknowingly on any criminal, no matter how egregious their crime?