Black Mirror Scientific Theories & Universe Discussion (all seasons)

[Kidlaw]

Sorry, I couldn't come up with a clever title for this.  I think there has been some discussion on universe theories in episode posts, but I thought a theory discussion should probably have its own post. Specifically, I thought we could at least start the discussion on whether we are watching stories from one universe or a sort of multi-verse. 

When I first started watching this show, I really thought it was just random, disconnected, stories.  But, it seems the idea of one universe was thrown out in White Christmas with all of its Easter eggs. 

So, my theory is that we are watching one Universe, but at different points in the timeline.  Further, I don't think there is much time between the earliest episode in the timeline (IMO, National Anthem) and the final episodes in the timeline (IMO, White Christmas/The Waldo Moment Epilogue/15 Million Merits).  

Technology is always at the heart of this series and we have all been witness to how technology can move at a rapid pace.  I think, so far, Black Mirror covers about 25-30 years in time with technology making really huge jumps. 

So, here's what I'm thinking as far as timeline order of the episodes so far:

1. National Anthem - The technology in this episode is not far off from our own.  People are using Youtube and Twitter and they clearly have iPhones similar to our own. 
2. The Waldo Moment (Prologue Only) - I think this episode occurs over two parts of the timeline.  Most of the episode establishes how Waldo comes to create a dystopian society.  I kind of had a hard time placing this episode, at first.  At one point, I thought it was much later in the timeline, but again, looking at the tech being used by the characters, it seems like most of the episode is pretty early on.  People are using iPhones, iPads, and even Blackberries! So, this has to be pretty early in the timeline or close to our time.  
3. White Bear - The giveaway to me that White Bear is still pretty early in the timeline were the phones used by the audience to record Viktoria's actions.  Again, these were clearly based on current iPhone design.  So, while technology had jumped to alter neurology (i.e., erasing Viktoria's memories), it's still not as advanced as the tech we see in Be Right Back. 
4. Be Right Back - In Be Right Back, we see a lot of advancement in laptops and cell phones (and, of course, androids).  Halley Atwell's phone was clearly more advanced than the iPhones in National Anthem and White Bear.  It is thinner, smaller, and appears to have some other advanced capabilities.  I don't think Be Right Back is as advanced as other episodes, however, because no one at this time seems to have integrated eye tech as of yet. 
5. Entire History of You - The eye tech in this episode seems like a precursor to the eye tech in White Christmas.  An important note, however, is that not everyone has the "grain" in Entire History of You.  Also, if you have it, you can still get rid of it which is not possible with the eye tech in White Christmas.  
6. White Christmas/15 Million Merits/The Waldo Moment (Epilogue)- So, White Christmas has plenty of references to past episodes.  We see the same news channel from National Anthem, a news alert that Viktoria's appeal was rejected, the MP from Waldo was mentioned, and we see the talent show from 15 Million Merits (as well the singer who won the talent show in the beginning of 15 Million Merits).  The eye technology in White Christmas seems more advanced than the Entire History of You as people can now be blocked and it doesn't seem as if people need that little silver remote control to change the function of their eye devices.  Additionally, in White Christmas, once you have the eye tech installed you can't have it removed which is a change from Entire History of You.  

In relation to White Bear, it appears the whole "vengeance is totally okay" attitude is even more pervasive at this point in time. We see law enforcement torturing Jamie's cookie and doling out a really harsh punishment for relatively minor offenses from Jon Hamm's character.  Also, I feel like the guy who picked up the snow globe at the end of White Christmas appeared ready to exercise his on vengeance against Hamm who was basically given the Scarlet       letter A. 

Considering that one of the dating coaches in White Christmas had the username I AM WALDO, it seems to me that White Christmas, 15 Million Merits, and The Waldo Moment (epilogue) are possibly contemporaneous.  I actually feel like the look of Waldo's epilogue and 15 Million Merits mirror each other.  Both have a very dark, sleek look about the settings with lots of digital screens conveying content (also, there's the fact that everyone knows Waldo is an Avatar and in 15 Million Merits the characters all had avatars). 

Anyhoo, that's my theory as far as one universe timeline goes.  Any thoughts or different outlook on things?  I'm ready to discuss. :)

[Kidlaw]

A super genius on Reddit has an updated list of all the connections between the episodes. Definitely check it out. I think the universe is starting to fall together. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/blackmirror/comments/58quob/working_list_of_episode_connections_season_3/?st=iulx4teq&sh=22491bb1

[Bama]

I noticed the female soldier in "Men Against Fire" sang the song from "15 Million Merits" and Blue from "Hated in the Nation" mentioned leaving forensics because of the "Ian Rannoch case" - that was the name of Victoria's boyfriend in "White Bear".

I think one of the symbols from "Playtest" was the same as the symbol from "White Bear".

Any idea what the "V" looking symbol is from "Men Against Fire"?  It was all over the soldier's uniforms and their equipment, almost like a country's flag would be.

[marinw]

For me one thing that make BM different than other shows is that it doesn't lend itself to binge watching. Each episode is just too intense and thought-provoking. 

[DharmaG]

I've been thinking about the whole idea of copy of consciousness that this show frequently uses through it's episodes.

I can see our consciousness being preserved in a vat but how can we sense the outside world without any sensors or senses.  In USS Callister he makes a digitized copy of people and so they exist in the digitized world but are disconnected from the real world which makes sense to me. In the episode White Christmas, or Black Museum it seems like the consciousness can be transferred inside of an egg or the teddy bear. It would be like  a brain without the body. There is no way for the brain to collect sensory data without any way to sense it with. There's a difference between transferring Jack's wife's consciousness into him as opposed to into a teddy bear no?

[Amarsir]

On 12/30/2017 at 1:39 AM, Cthulhudrew said:

I also think exploring the impact of potential on child development and empathy would have been more dramatic than having it just be the impetus for Mom to initially get rid of the device (like, could she have turned into a sociopath if Mom had kept the filter on all her life?)

There's a book The Fear Factor by Georgetown professor Abigail Marsh about her study of fear in psychology. She discovered that one of the most consistent traits of psychopaths is their inability to recognize fear, let alone relate to it. (A quote from one mass-murderer upon being shown a picture of someone exhibiting fear: "I don't know what that emotion is, but that's the same expression my victims had before I stabbed them.")

This is in regard to S04:E02 ArcAngel.

Edited January 1, 2018 by Amarsir

[Hazel55]

Did the episode "Black Museum" hint at the possibility that all episodes of Black Mirror are connected, perhaps set in the same universe? 

Near the beginning of the episode, when Nish first entered the museum, did anyone else catch the large picture of the protagonist from "White Bear" hanging under the headline "Child Murderer"? That and a few other details from this episode (the "memory harvesting" thing, the downloading of consciousness and memories through DNA) hinted that previous episodes of this anthology series might be somehow connected. (Perhaps set in the same universe, or some sort of parallel universes?)  Also, the graphic novel novel the husband was reading was called "15 Million Merits," wasn't it? But perhaps that was just a shoutout.

Anyway, I'm not sure whether some or all of the episodes being somehow connected, or if these were just a few "in jokes" dropped by the writers. Its interesting to think about, though. 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Hazel55

[Pondlass1]

Wow - just discovered this series! It's so mind wobbling, it's now impossible for me to  watch predictable American network drama procedurals  ever again.  :(

[markx]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/black-mirror-episodes-list-season-1-2-3-4-chronoligcal-order-shared-universe-netflix-a8143591.html also puts all the episodes in timeline order - it's mostly based on their references to each other, rather than judgement of technology, but some guesswork is still needed and I think they get some of those guesses wrong.

Presence of a specific brand like apple cell phones is more likely an indication of product placement deals. White Bear is indeed early on according to the article. To me it seems unlikely that memory control like this would advance so quickly, but who knows.

Be Right Back - this is one with no useful easter eggs/references, and interestingly the Independent puts it later on (later than White Christmas, Entire History of You) based on the Androids (not the phones!). But I'd disagree with that, as well as the lack of the eye tech, the level of AI seems more primitive than the human-level cookies we saw in White Christmas.

"An important note, however, is that not everyone has the "grain" in Entire History of You."

Note it's been mainstream enough that the emergency services seem unable to help IIRC if someone doesn't have it - but yes, I agree this puts it before White Christmas. The article I link puts White Christmas way too early for no apparent reason.

I imagined 15 Million Merits as being far in the future, for that kind of life to exist - but the article provides evidence that this must be at the same time as National Anthem and The Waldo Moment. I guess it could be some kind of weird reality show taking place in the near-future.

As mentioned in other threads, the series seems a lot more pessimistic on self-driving compared to other technologies. A character is waiting for it to "go mainstream" in Hated in the Nation which takes place at a time when cookies have been given human rights (so fully fledged human AIs before an AI can drive a car? If nothing else, you could stick a cookie in a car...) It's available for limited services (pizza delivery) in Crocodile, at a time when they also have the ability to read human and animal memories. People are still driving around in Be Right Back, ArkAngel and even in The Entire History of You!

Flexible screens are another omission. In episodes like ArkAngel, where we have implants that can read and modify visual perception, people are still waving big tablets around like it's 2012. (In reality it seems people use phones more and more - we might in future see people unfolding their phones to give larger displays.) We'll also surely have these before we can have displays small, thin and flexible enough to be put in an eye.

Having said that I can understand there being some merit in focusing on the technological changes that are relevant to the plot, and outside of that it's easier to just use existing products as props - Chekhov's Futuristic Gadget.

 

On 01/01/2018 at 0:38 AM, DharmaG said:

I've been thinking about the whole idea of copy of consciousness that this show frequently uses through it's episodes.

I can see our consciousness being preserved in a vat but how can we sense the outside world without any sensors or senses.  In USS Callister he makes a digitized copy of people and so they exist in the digitized world but are disconnected from the real world which makes sense to me. In the episode White Christmas, or Black Museum it seems like the consciousness can be transferred inside of an egg or the teddy bear. It would be like  a brain without the body. There is no way for the brain to collect sensory data without any way to sense it with. There's a difference between transferring Jack's wife's consciousness into him as opposed to into a teddy bear no?

But surely there were sensors? In Black Museum, the teddy bear had a camera which fed audio and visual inputs into the hardware that was running the AI, along with some "haptic" sensor so she could feel a hug. Similarly the White Christmas "house" cookie had at least audio and visual.
 

[CigarDoug]

In Crocodile, we have several new references as well:

• The song playing from the car that the Insurance Investigator keeps playing, was that from 15 Million Merits?
• What about the song they were singing at the beginning, right before they hit the cyclist?
• When Mia is in her hotel room, searching for a porn movie to establish her alibi, she scrolls past "Wraith Babes" from 15 Million Merits.
• When the Insurance Investigator is talking to the hotel clerk, he mentions the Judge from "Hot Shots" (the show from 15 Million Merits) getting caught at the hotel with a "Rent Boy" and the tabloids hacking their guest registry.

The interesting part of this is, it confirms that the lives of the characters in 15 Million Merits are NOT the only choices in that future, that not everyone is riding a stationary bicycle or cleaning up trash in a massive tower somewhere, and that the TV shows and other entertainment are available to the rest of the world, which seems to be living normal lives like we do now.

Edited January 10, 2018 by CigarDoug
Clarity.

[Pindrop]

Imagine for a moment that an Iphone grew legs and used them to kick you in the shins repeatedly. I think that would be a good episode!