Dreaming of the future - Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams
A neon-colored pastel of dreams about the future.
Philip K. Dick is sometimes invoked as one of the writers most capable to "predict" the future, as much as that's possible through fiction and literature. His writing comes from a time when sci-fi was heavily influenced by fantasy, so the way he approached science was whimsical, "un-scientific", taking any liberties he needed to make a point.
Sci-fantasy is not a weakness in itself, because the point of a story is to have something or someone to care about, regardless of how cool its technology or magic is. Caring about someone may be an abstract matter, but Dick's stories have enough recourse to empathy to matter less that he wasn't a hard sci-fi writer (hard sci-fi being a branch of fiction which deals with realistic applicable science).
Obviously, like previous Philip K. Dick adaptations, this is precisely that: not one-to-one translations of his stories, but modern renditions influenced by current social issues. And this is to be expected. Like sci-fi writers "predict" the future from their own time, experience and knowledge, so we imagine it based on ours.
Wholesome level: low to good, given the context of stories divined from the present, focused primarily on dystopian topics. Some endings are positive, some are not.
Worth watching?
Yes. For enthusiasts of sci-fi, sci-fantasy, futurism, transhumanism, technological progress, for how all these impact humanity, in empathy and evolution. Also, for fans of Black Mirror.
Episode 1 - The Hood Maker
Empathy and privacy - or lack thereof
A bit of a similar premise to Minority Report, also a story by Philip K. Dick. A Teep, telepath, is a human who can "read" the minds of those around. At the request of their superiors, they can espouse an opinion about each subject they read, to the point of causing trauma.
Consequently, a Teep can challenge human suspects and eliminate the mental block a person would put up. Teeps are not just lie detectors - they're aggressive interrogators when needed, possible actors in a bad cop routine effacing the lines of privacy and human rights.
There's a parallel with current AI development: Teeps can "scan" people around them - without consent - acting like a knowledge dispenser, a collective mind.
The issue of consent is not brought up explicitly, but implied clearly. In the past, this type of story - conscious "non-human" with feelings, able to intrude on privacy - may have been cliched, but today it's found new relevance thanks to omnipresent AI.
The expected love story developed between the protagonists may be a cliche itself, but the ending justifies and makes it more interesting than just human vs. "non-human". Teeps are humans themselves, a point which may work against the story's plausibility - it's not clear why 'Normals' regard telepaths as subhuman. Then again, this can be seen as commentary on the irrationality of classist oppression.
Episode 2 - Impossible Planet
Lying to the dying
This one takes a while to build up.
With life extension comes a greater chance for disappointment. We pine for memories and nostalgia, but the more we persist in life the more things change, sometimes in ways contrary to our beliefs.
If somoeone has an essential attachment to something - people, memories, places - should we lie to them and not shatter their ideal?
This is the first episode to blend more fantasy, magic realism, weird fiction into the sci-fi. Fans of classic sci-fi will be more at home with science-fantasy, since this is how sci-fi started, as an extension and mix of fantasy and speculative fiction.
The change is gradual and doesn't feel phoned in. As fantasy goes, the end may be a metaphor, but the story avoids taking a stance, which diminishes its grit. The first episode also avoids taking a final stance on its protagonist, but is otherwise explicit about class oppression. Impossible Planet is more of a fairytale, and its ending works well if taken at face value, if we ignore the premise of someone dying.
Episode 3 - The Commuter
Imagination, its uses and misuses
The first story which harkens more to Black Mirror.
The Commuter seems to begin as meditation on the power of imagination to shape a better world, a subject partly related to the previous episode.
But it's easier to see The Commuter as a meditation on the value of imagination and storytelling. If there's one thing good stories do is to tell us that things can get better, that imagination may be pragmatical beyond daydreaming. Impossible Planet may simply be about dying, The Commuter may espouse the importance of imagination in bettering the future.
"A dreamer dreams big," says a character half-way. She also complains people didn't think the utopia portrayed here was not interesting enough.
By the end, The Commuter becomes a mix of ideas, some heavier and difficult to complete in its runtime. This makes it worthwhile, together with how it avoids being just another story about imagining utopia. From the ideal of using imagination for a better world, to the peril of using it to avoid responsibility and trauma.
Episode 4 - Crazy Diamond
Double indemnity and "artificial" intelligence
If human-created intelligence - like present-day AI - is complex enough, it virtually resembles human mental capacities. The so-called artificial form of intelligence will want to survive, perhaps thrive, and may resort to manipulation to do so. Here, the intelligent entities are human-like creations of genetic engineering considered second-class citizens.
As conflicting as the idea may be, a human may also fall in love with a sufficiently evolved "artificial" form of intelligence. The debate gets complicated because we don't know how to clearly define consciousness.
Declaring that AI or AGI (artificial general intelligence) is not alive may be a moot point once it achieves enough complexity and appears self-aware. Possibly the best happy-end of the season.
Episode 5 - Real Life
The potential and dangers of VR
The first episode which seems strait out of Black Mirror, with a classic bitter ending. Similar flair for fast-paced plot, dealing with trauma and how technology can affect identity and addiction. It harkens back to Ep. 3 in how it talks about ways to escape trauma.
It's normal to seek a break from traumatic events or self-doubt. With technology becoming an ever stronger drug, the new life we gain through simulated environments may seem more real than reality. Or at least more desirable, to the point we doubt if we ever want to return.
If a simulated life is more real or desirable, is it anyone's business to stop you from staying there? More so, there may be valid ways to help treat trauma through simulated environments and games. The story here forces the argument with a severe traumatic event, but the potential remains, though the moral is a warning on the dangers of doubt, technology and addiction.
There's also a gratuitous orgasm, but that's no reason to complain, and may be justified by how some characters explain its context.
Episode 6 - Human Is
Empathy, probably
Human Is seems to begin as question on the price needed to maintain the human species in the face of an extinction event, but discards this thread. The first half meanders until the second picks up and resolves the title in an expected and satisfying way.
The story is partly a commentary on the common situation where someone's personality may adjust after a traumatic event. Anyone who's ever been through a powerful experience, good or bad, knows how certain moments can dramatically alter one's life. If not, a midlife crisis may be more common and have the same effect.
On the second half, the story returns to its title to question what it means to be human, including accusations of mimicking empathy and using torture to divine the truth. The answer circles back to the context of a major experience readjusting one's personality, using this as further proof for the accusation. The conclusion is an expected trope, but no less valid.
Episode 7 - K.A.O
When the conspiracy is real
A strong start that bangs together omnipresent ads, human labor vs. automation and how democracy may be overrated in the great meganation of Mexuscan. A dark story in a quaint near-futuristic package with a tedious soundtrack.
For society and the state to prosper, some people may have to snitch on their neighbors, or outright put them down until the law arrives. Sometimes, citizens fall into a frenzy of fanaticism and dislike anyone who's different, here the ones named Others.
A classic trope about authoritarian societies, where anyone around you might be an undesirable, or you may be one yourself. We get the kind of story everyone on the political spectrum will think applies to them, because it's about the courage to challenge authority, and most people think themselves capable of doing that.
Episode 8 - Autofac
Post-apocalyptic customer care
Like everything else, the corporation wants to exist perpetually, and does whatever needed to survive beyond the apocalypse. Sometimes this means maintaining production at all costs, including poisoning the environment.
But the brunt of the story is again the question of what it means to be human. There's no definitie answer here - something may appear as a standard human, may employ human-like behavior and be a copy of someone's personality.
Then again, individuated subjective experience makes it difficult to decide what consciousness is, so any sufficiently advanced AI may have the same level of self-awareness as humans, or may be complex enough to mimic it. Alongside is the issue of cloning and copying personality - putting aside discusions about souls, it may be impossible to verify if an emulated personality is or is not as "conscious" as the original.
Episode 9 - Safe and sound
Invading privacy, preventing crime
Maybe to prevent terror attacks you need to efface privacy. All the people who accept privacy-intruding gadgets in this story would likely agree that you needn't be afraid if you have nothing to hide.
Then again, some do have something to hide, including the ones participating in the system. Couple this with paranoia, induced by health issues or a form of skepticism, and lack of privacy can be devastating. The second half becomes a whole greater than its parts, mixing lack of privacy with a high-school drama with ideological tension plus someone caught in the center with potential symptoms of schizophrenia and how this person might be played by the state, for better or worse.
This is another episode where people can point to tyranny regardless of political bent, because they think only the other side is in danger of creating a technological dictatorship, justified or not.
Episode 10 - The father thing
Stranger dad
Applied imagination is a powerful beast. It can be used to inspire, to escape, to plan the future. In a kid's mind and not only, imagination can transform reality, materializing fears into a palpable threat.
Combine imagination with parents on the verge of divorce and you have a mystery-horror adventure reminiscent of The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Stephen King stories and a bit of Stranger Things, all caried by a young boy's imagination.
This might be the only gimmick episode, a story with a predictable non-twist without a strong social aspect. But it's strong enough if you view it as metaphor, as a growing gap between kids and parents filtered through the protagonist's imagination. Otherwise, it's the only episode with a less explicit message, but can still be appreciated taken at face value as a standard mystery-horror romp.
If you think this Universe is bad, you should see some of the others.
Depending on how you deal with the last story, there's no weak episode in this first season. In comparison, Black Mirror seasons are often strong, with the occasional gimmick story without much substance, but it stays afloat with relevant topics and a barrage of subverted expectations.
Electric Dreams is not revolutionary, but it's poignant. Its topics, mixing Philip K. Dick's original ideas with modern writing and topics, are intriguing because they talk about the future (or an imagined present) in a way applicable to modern concerns. Whereas BM tends to deal specifically with how technology affects humanity, ED has more leeway to insert fantasy or sci-fantasy without always relying on technology.
Placed next to Black Mirror, Electric Dreams is promising, less novel and not yet as punchy. BM has built a tradition of subversiveness. Its plot tends to be denser, with the promise that at every step everything we know about the story will be challenged.
Electric Dreams is tamer, slower, but not less poignant. Like BM, most stories in Electric Dreams end up in unpleasant or bitter-sweet ways, and its worlds are variations on dystopia. I'd say its themes and negative bias are cliches, but dystopia is both a space for manifested fears and a playground to imagine ways to fix it.
The future is indeed here, just unevenly distributed. There may be no revelation in this first season, but the package is attractive, entertaining, and can foster discussions about present questions: privacy, authoritarianism, class tension, empathy, the human condition and consciousness.