All Narratives (328)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 10 min
- Kinolab
- 2018
Cassius “Cash” Green is a telemarketer who is taught to harness his “white voice,” which essentially means to exude privilege, in order to reach success. While this does eventually earn him upward mobility within the corporation RegalView, an owner of the controversial labor-contracting company WorryFree, his new status begins to conflict with his friends’ unionized protest efforts against the corporation.
- Kinolab
- 2018
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- 10 min
- Kinolab
- 2018
Identity and Mobility in a Techno-capitalist Economy
Cassius “Cash” Green is a telemarketer who is taught to harness his “white voice,” which essentially means to exude privilege, in order to reach success. While this does eventually earn him upward mobility within the corporation RegalView, an owner of the controversial labor-contracting company WorryFree, his new status begins to conflict with his friends’ unionized protest efforts against the corporation.
Have corporations become more or less adept at image control in the digital age? Does the common laborer have any more of a voice than they did before digital communication channels? How might the “white voice” be interpreted as commentary on how digital communication channels allow one to act in a completely different identity, no matter how false it is?
Sorry to Bother You: White Voice-
- 17 min
- Kinolab
- 2018
Wakanda, a country founded upon a great repository of Vibranium, a natural resource used to develop cutting-edge technology, keeps itself hidden from the rest of the world to maintain its prosperity and avoid becoming a target. After one man betrays Wakanda by revealing its location in hopes that they will spread their prosperity to oppressed black people across the globe, he and his bloodline are punished severely. T’Challa, the new leader of Wakanda and the superhero known as Black Panther, is then faced with solving this dilemma between hiding away the technological prosperity of Wakanda or spreading the digital resources to disadvantaged black communities across the globe.
- Kinolab
- 2018
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- 17 min
- Kinolab
- 2018
Spreading Digital Resources and Global Inequality
Wakanda, a country founded upon a great repository of Vibranium, a natural resource used to develop cutting-edge technology, keeps itself hidden from the rest of the world to maintain its prosperity and avoid becoming a target. After one man betrays Wakanda by revealing its location in hopes that they will spread their prosperity to oppressed black people across the globe, he and his bloodline are punished severely. T’Challa, the new leader of Wakanda and the superhero known as Black Panther, is then faced with solving this dilemma between hiding away the technological prosperity of Wakanda or spreading the digital resources to disadvantaged black communities across the globe.
What is the relationship between colonialism and imperialism and current digital divides? What are the vast, far-reaching consequences of a lack of digital connection for disadvantaged communities, especially communities of color? What responsibility to digitally privileged countries have to help those communities or countries that have less access to digital resources? How can the image of the internet as a democratizing force reach reality for all communities across the globe? How often do people consider that there are considerable physical infrastructure and resource needs for digital connection? How should we approach the distribution of technology to oppressed people around the world?
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- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Single mother Marie pays to have Arkangel, a brain-computer interface, installed into her daughter Sara. With this implant, Marie is able to not only track Sara’s location at all times, but can also access a feed of the audiovisual data which Sara is experiencing at any moment. After avoiding the system for a long time, Marie brings her Arkangel tablet back out to track and surveil Sara during her teenage years, going so far as to intervene in her love and social lives after watching the feed during intimate and private moments for Sara. Once Sara finds out, she revolts. For further reading, see the narrative “On TikTok, Teens Meme the Safety App Ruining Their Summer”
- Kinolab
- 2017
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- 14 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Marie and Sara Part II: Helicopter Parenting and Young Adult Independence
Single mother Marie pays to have Arkangel, a brain-computer interface, installed into her daughter Sara. With this implant, Marie is able to not only track Sara’s location at all times, but can also access a feed of the audiovisual data which Sara is experiencing at any moment. After avoiding the system for a long time, Marie brings her Arkangel tablet back out to track and surveil Sara during her teenage years, going so far as to intervene in her love and social lives after watching the feed during intimate and private moments for Sara. Once Sara finds out, she revolts. For further reading, see the narrative “On TikTok, Teens Meme the Safety App Ruining Their Summer”
How do technologies that allow parents to surveil and track teenagers prevent these young adults from self-exploration and actualization? Is it possible to design location tracking services that allow for safety without diminishing privacy or autonomy? What would this look like? In what ways do digital technologies make the teenage experience more and less free than it was before the digital age?
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2002
In the year 2054, the PreCrime police program is about to go national. At PreCrime, three clairvoyant humans known as “PreCogs” are able to forecast future murders by streaming audiovisual data which provides the surrounding details of the crime, including the names of the victims and perpetrators. Although there are no cameras, the implication is that anyone can be under constant surveillance by this program. Once the “algorithm” has gleaned enough data about the future crime, officers move out to stop the murder before it happens.
- Kinolab
- 2002
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- 13 min
- Kinolab
- 2002
Preventative Policing and Surveillance Information
In the year 2054, the PreCrime police program is about to go national. At PreCrime, three clairvoyant humans known as “PreCogs” are able to forecast future murders by streaming audiovisual data which provides the surrounding details of the crime, including the names of the victims and perpetrators. Although there are no cameras, the implication is that anyone can be under constant surveillance by this program. Once the “algorithm” has gleaned enough data about the future crime, officers move out to stop the murder before it happens.
How will predicted crime be prosecuted? Should predicted crime be prosecuted? How could technologies such as the ones shown here be affected for the worse by human bias? How would these devices make racist policing practices even worse? Would certain communities be targeted? Is there ever any justification for constant civil surveillance?
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- 3 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Eleanor Shellstrop, a deceased selfish woman, ended up in the utopic afterlife The Good Place by mistake after her death. She spins an elaborate web of lies to ensure that she is not sent to be tortured in The Bad Place. In this narrative, she tracks her personal ethical point total with a technology which is compared to a Fitbit. In theory, the more good actions she completes, the higher her score will get. For another narrative on personal ratings/point tracking, see the narratives “Lacie Parts I and II” on the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive.”
- Kinolab
- 2017
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- 3 min
- Kinolab
- 2017
Personal Statistics Tracking
Eleanor Shellstrop, a deceased selfish woman, ended up in the utopic afterlife The Good Place by mistake after her death. She spins an elaborate web of lies to ensure that she is not sent to be tortured in The Bad Place. In this narrative, she tracks her personal ethical point total with a technology which is compared to a Fitbit. In theory, the more good actions she completes, the higher her score will get. For another narrative on personal ratings/point tracking, see the narratives “Lacie Parts I and II” on the Black Mirror episode “Nosedive.”
Do corrupt motivations spoil moral deeds? Should digital technologies be used to track personal data that is more abstract that health statistics or number of steps taken? What would be the consequences if such ratings were public?
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- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Eleanor Shellstrop, a deceased selfish woman, ended up in the utopic afterlife The Good Place by mistake after her death. She spins an elaborate web of lies to ensure that she is not sent to be tortured in The Bad Place. In this narrative, the demons of the Bad Place try to wrest Eleanor’s soul away from the Good Place by convincing her that this is where she truly belongs. This resonates with Eleanor, who was always a lone wolf and never found a community of people who she liked. Ultimately, though, she fights to stay in the Good Place because of the fondness she has for the community of people who she knows there.
- Kinolab
- 2016
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- 9 min
- Kinolab
- 2016
Community and Belonging
Eleanor Shellstrop, a deceased selfish woman, ended up in the utopic afterlife The Good Place by mistake after her death. She spins an elaborate web of lies to ensure that she is not sent to be tortured in The Bad Place. In this narrative, the demons of the Bad Place try to wrest Eleanor’s soul away from the Good Place by convincing her that this is where she truly belongs. This resonates with Eleanor, who was always a lone wolf and never found a community of people who she liked. Ultimately, though, she fights to stay in the Good Place because of the fondness she has for the community of people who she knows there.
Can our desire to be better outweigh our past actions? How do digital technologies help people find communities where they feel they belong? Does the intention to improve as a person matter just as much as actually improving as a person?