从《黑镜》新季看科技如何“异化”普通人的生活

说实话，现在的西方影视作品佳作是越来越少了，以至于现在美剧迷们津津乐道的很多都是十几年前的剧集。就连天花板一样的存在《权力的游戏》，因为制作的时间跨度长达10年，后几季的效果和前期相比，堪称狗尾续貂。究其原因，还是西方的文艺创作者思想越来越左倾，越来越脱离现实了。

比如最近一部反映技术进步、技术发展使人类社会变得异化的反乌托邦科幻剧集《黑镜》又出了新的一季。这部剧集在之前口碑比较好，反正最近也没有什么电视可看，就看了第一集，名字叫《普通人》。

前半段这个故事看不出多少科幻的痕迹，讲述的就是一个普通工人和普通教师组成的家庭。夫妻过着并不富裕、凡事都要精打细算，但也还称得上温饱幸福的生活。唯一的缺憾是两人一直试图想要一个孩子而没有成功。

当然，普通人的生活就是这样，在面对风浪时，很多时候都是不堪一击的。很快，妻子在上课过程中突然晕倒，被诊断出脑瘤，而且没有治愈的机会，除了尝试一项试验性的新技术。因为前面没有孩子的设定，夫妻两人所拥有的就只有彼此，所以丈夫毫不犹豫地选择了进行这项由一家高科技公司提供的新技术疗法，而且费用还相当低廉，在他们有限的收入承担能力范围之内。手术也进行得非常成功，妻子顺利地苏醒过来，生活似乎就要恢复正常了，科技造福了人类。

但很快事情就变得不那么正常了。夫妻俩开车出来一次稍微有点远的远门，结果半路上妻子就昏迷不醒了，等他们返回自己居住的小镇，又奇迹般地恢复正常。他们去公司咨询，才得知原来他们使用的只是基础版，只能在居住地本地使用。如果想开通全国漫游功能，需要升级自己的版本。这对收入微薄、生活本就拮据的小两口来说，压力还是很大的，但是丈夫还是咬咬牙选择升级。

但问题并没有就此解决。妻子有时候会莫名其妙地开始念广告词，这严重影响了她的日常生活和在学校里的教学，面临着丢工作的情况。毫无疑问，这又是一家高科技公司搞的鬼，就和现在的大部分软件一样，要想关闭广告功能，只能交钱继续升级服务。丈夫为了搞额外的收入，因为他只是一个普通工人，没有太多的技能，只能在网上搞直播搞怪秀，满足各种奇葩的奇怪需求，靠自虐赚取额外的收入。结果在一次直播中不小心暴露身份，被工友发现，受人嘲笑，一怒之下引发矛盾，丢掉了工作。

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To be honest, there are fewer and fewer excellent Western film and television works nowadays. As a result, many of the TV series that American TV fans are now enthusiastically talking about are from over a decade ago. Even the ceiling-like existence of "Game of Thrones" has a production time span of 10 years. Compared with the earlier seasons, the effects of the later seasons can be described as a poor continuation. The reason for this is that the thoughts of Western literary and artistic creators are becoming increasingly left-leaning and divorced from reality.

For instance, recently, a new season of the dystopian science fiction series "Black Mirror", which reflects the alienation of human society caused by technological progress and development, has emerged. This TV series had a good reputation before. Anyway, there haven't been many TV shows to watch recently, so I watched the first episode, which was called "Joan Is Terrible".

The first half of this story shows few traces of science fiction. It tells of a family composed of ordinary workers and ordinary teachers. The couple led a life that was not rich and they had to be very careful with everything, but still could be described as having enough to eat and wear and being happy. The only drawback is that the two have been trying to have a child but have not succeeded.

Of course, that's how ordinary people's lives are. When facing storms and waves, they are often vulnerable. Soon, the wife suddenly fainted during the class and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. There was no chance of a cure except for trying a new experimental technology. Because there was no child setting in the front, the couple had only each other. Therefore, the husband chose this new technology therapy provided by a high-tech company without hesitation, and the cost was quite low, within their limited income capacity. The operation was also very successful. The wife regained consciousness smoothly and it seemed that life was about to return to normal. Technology has benefited mankind.

But soon things became not so normal. The couple drove on a slightly long journey. On the way, the wife lost consciousness. When they returned to the small town where they lived, she miraculously recovered. They went to the company for consultation and only then learned that they were only using the basic version, which could only be used locally in their place of residence. If you want to activate the national roaming function, you need to upgrade your version. This was still a huge pressure for the young couple with meager income and already tight living conditions, but the husband still gritted his teeth and chose to upgrade.

But the problem was not solved as a result. Sometimes my wife would start reading advertising slogans for no reason, which seriously affected her daily life and teaching at school, and she was facing the situation of losing her job. There is no doubt that this is again the work of a high-tech company. Just like most software nowadays, if you want to turn off the advertising function, you can only pay to continue upgrading the service. In order to earn extra income, the husband, being just an ordinary worker with few skills, can only do live-streaming and funny shows online to meet all kinds of strange and odd demands, and earn extra income by self-torture. As a result, during a live stream, he accidentally exposed his identity and was discovered by his co-workers. He was ridiculed and, in a fit of rage, a conflict arose and he lost his job.