On the first watch of Black Mirror: Nosedive, you may think that the intent was to show a credit system to criticize the system in China. After some analysis and some research on the movie, we can start to appreciate how unique this dystopian is. The intent of the movie was to observe the risk involved when we upscale social media so that it becomes more important in our every day lives.
One of the problems with social media is that people are constantly comparing themselves with other people, and constantly giving feedback to others. This cycle of comparing yourself to others then seeing the feedback, gives a feeling of inadequacy [1]. We can see this inadequacy in Lacie when see makes the decision to move away from her brother, who is not as socially fit. Her decision to try to make herself feel more adequate leads to the journey of her downfall.
Another problem with social media is the addictive nature. In Nosedive, we see the use of social media invading work time, conversations, and eating time. A study found that the use of cellphones during a dinner, was about 7.8% less enjoyable [2]. Another study found that about 40% of food related posts on Instagram were purely for aesthetics, and not for the enjoyment of food. The nature of Instagram food posting encourages cellphone use at the table which degrades meaningful conversation. One of the most unsettling scenes in the movie was the elevator scene where Lacie has small talk with a stranger. They do not have, to our standard, a normal conversation. They have conversation by talking about post they see of each other on their respective social media accounts. They switch topics after every sentence, which could be satirical view of how social media causes us to have short attention spans.
Sources:
[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201711/the-comparison-trap
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103117301737#t0005
As we involve technology into our live more, it would not be surprising to start putting that technology inside of us. In fact, there are already talks of implant technology with Elon Musk's talk of neural link implants [1], and Amazon's talk of NFC palm chips [2]. When the technology enters our bodies, we no longer have complete control of that technology. For example, if you think that your Alexa or Google Home is listening to your conversations, you may just leave the room or simply unplug the device. With technologies like retinal implants, neural implants, and NFC palm readers, you cannot take out that device for privacy, you must have special equipment to remove them.
Wearable technologies pose a threat to privacy because implanted devices are able to constantly gather information about a person without consent. The problem with constant information being stored is that this information is still a grey area. For example, Amazon Alexa is constantly storing voices, and law enforcement in 2017 attempted to getting voice recordings of a suspected murder. Amazon rejected the attempt, pointing to the first and fourth amendments. As of now, private information collect this way are still a grey area, and can cause potential harm to our privacy.
A way we see personal information used in nosedive is when Lacie was touring a house. The house automatically used the private information about the dimensions of her body, to reenact a lewd holographic advertisement. There was also a billboard that automatically used a picture of her body to advertise the house further. The advertisements were quite effective as Lacie was speechless and was quick in deciding to buy the house. Amazon Alexa does a similar thing where it changes Amazon recommendations based on data collected.
Sources:
[1] https://www.dezeen.com/2020/09/02/neuralink-elon-musk-brain-implant-technology/#:~:text=Elon%20Musk's%20Neuralink%20implant%20will,it%20would%20be%20physically%20unnoticeable.&text=%22It's%20kind%20of%20like%20a,tiny%20wires%2C%22%20said%20Musk.
[2] https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/29/21493094/amazon-one-palm-recognition-hand-payments-amazon-go-store
[3] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-31/you-re-home-alone-with-alexa-are-your-secrets-safe-quicktake
The idea of a social credit system is nothing new, as China is currently implementing it into its society, and will supposedly be finished by the end of 2020. In the Chinese social credit system there is a rule where you must wait longer if you you have lower score [1]. We directly see an example of this in Nosedive with Susan; Her husband died of cancer because he had to give up his surgery seat for someone of higher score.
A credit score system creates situations where choosing someone objectively based on a stat could be the wrong choice. This type of system does not allow for case by case analysis, which we see an example of in the hospital story and in the end when Lacie is thrown into jail. As far as we can see, Lacie did not get a trial, nor did enforcement intervene to sort out the escalation, she was thrown into jail based on a statistic.
We are aware that point discrimination exists in this world with the example of Chester, who was an average point person, until he was involved with drama, and people began to downvote him because of his low score. The combination of point discrimination and a bias system, can create systemic discrimination which can be seen as unfair when we follow Lacie's nosedive. She initially started with seemingly harmless actions, like an argument with her brother then a accidental run-in. These events were the start of the eventually rock-bottom that Lacie hit.
Sources:
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/china-social-credit-system-punishments-and-rewards-explained-2018-4#despite-the-creepiness-of-the-system-human-rights-watch-called-it-chilling-while-botsman-called-it-a-futuristic-vision-of-big-brother-out-of-control-some-citizens-say-its-making-them-better-people-already-12