Black Mirror is one of the most thought-provoking series currently streaming on Netflix (and anywhere else, for that matter). Creator Charlie Brooker has succeeded in writing one of the only speculative anthologies worthy of the original Twilight Zone, becoming a modern-day Rod Serling in the process. Though not strictly a horror show, Black Mirror is absolutely terrifying in its ability to show us glimpses of the dystopian future waiting for us just around the corner. With an emphasis on technology, Black Mirror warns of the effects that rampant computer advancement and unchecked capitalism can have on society. When it comes to Black Mirror’s bleak tomorrow becoming a reality, it’s a question of “when,” not “if.”
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Indeed, several of Black Mirror‘s warnings have gone unheeded, resulting in many of its predictions coming true. From larger-than-life cartoon characters getting involved in politics to microtransactions from hell, we’ve cultivated a list of seven times Black Mirror correctly predicted a new aspect of modern life.
1) “Be Right Back” (Season 2, Episode 1)
When Martha’s boyfriend and the father of her unborn child, Ash, is suddenly killed in a motor vehicle accident, she decides to try a service that lets her upload his social media posts and online correspondence to create an artificial intelligence facsimile. Now, over a decade since “Be Right Back” initially aired, such a service exists in real life.
Eternos.life is a website that allows users to, in their own words, “Create a digital twin, to share knowledge, experiences, and everything else.” Eternos boasts that their AI “twins” can have “ultra-realistic interactions using your voice,” and that that voice will reflect “the nuances of your essence, intonation, and emotions.” When and if this technology will ever go mainstream remains to be seen, but just the fact that it exists at all makes us think that Charlie Brooker would have had a bad time in late 1600s Salem.
2) “Metalhead” (Season 4, Episode 5)
“Metalhead” is a tense thriller in which a woman attempts to evade a robot dog that is hunting her mercilessly. It’s a Terminator crossed with a Rottweiler, and now it’s a reality. The US Army is currently using autonomous robot dogs in mining operations and is in the process of testing mechanical canines with guns mounted on their backs.
According to an Independent article from October 2024, the army describes their robot dog as “a four-legged unmanned ground vehicle armed with an artificial intelligence-enabled rifle.” Don’t be surprised if World War III is fought by soldiers that are more Scooby Doo than G.I. Joe.
3)”White Bear” (Season 2, Episode 2)
In “White Bear,” a woman wakes up to find herself part of a new future, a prison alternative. Instead of being locked up behind bars, convicts spend each day wandering around a strange town while onlookers film them and take pictures without offering any help whatsoever. While no world government has employed such a twisted punishment in real life — yet — an epidemic of disaster voyeurism has absolutely overtaken our society.
The internet is flooded with videos of emergencies, such as people being attacked or car accidents, happening in real time. In the content-obsessed world that Black Mirror predicted, it’s now commonplace for anyone within five feet of a calamity to whip out their phone and start filming before offering assistance.
4) “Nosedive” (Season 3, Episode 1)
“Nosedive” from 2016 took the already common practice of rating Uber drivers and leaving Yelp! reviews and took it too its logical conclusion: rating humans. With eye implants and smartphones, people rate all their social interactions with each other resulting in everyone having an overall score that directly affects their social and economic status. The higher a person’s score, the better apartment they can get, etc.
China is currently testing out something called a “social credit system,” and while the details behind the system have been exaggerated by Western Media, it’s still not great. According to MIT Technology Review, the social credit system is a number that citizens of China will be assigned based on “a mix of attempts to relate the financial credit industry, enable government agencies to shared data with each other and promote state-sanctioned moral values.”
Thanks to Black Mirror, it’s that last one we’re really worried about.
5) “The National Anthem” (Season 1, Episode 1)
In what is still Black Mirror’s most controversial episode, a member of the British royal family is abducted, and the kidnappers demand a very specific ransom: the prime minister getting intimate with a pig on live television. At the time it was released in 2011, “The National Anthem” seemed like a concept that had zero chance of ever becoming reality. After all, what are the chances a British prime minister would ever engage in bestiality?
Well, depending on who you ask, quite high. Less than five years after Black Mirror aired its first episode, an unauthorised biography of David Cameron came out alleging that the former Prime Minister put his genitals in the mouth of a dead pig as part of a college initiation ceremony. Now we aren’t saying anyone should put stock in a sensational tell-all book, but just the fact that such an act would even be alleged to have happened following almost the exact same scenario in “The National Anthem” is pretty eerie, no?
6) “Fifteen Million Merits” (Season 1, Episode 2)
“Fifteen Million Merits” imagines a society where microtransactions govern everyone’s existence. People ride stationary bikes to earn “merits” a universal currency used for everything and we do mean everything. Want to brush your teeth? Hand over a few merits for toothpaste. Want an apple? Merits. Want to skip an ad while watching TV? If you guessed that it costs merits, congratulations.
While microtransactions existed before “Fifteen Million Merits,” never to the degree or intrusiveness that they do now. Did you download the new hottest app that everyone can’t stop talking about? Hope you like intrusive advertisements every few seconds. Of course, you can skip them if you get the paid version. Run out of essential currency in the mobile game you’re addicted to? You can wait an hour to earn more organically, watch an ad, or heck, just pay $1.99 to bypass all of that.
Luckily, things aren’t quite as dystopian as the world in “Fifteen Million Merits,” but just wait, we’ll get there.
7) “The Waldo Moment” (Season 2, Episode 3)
“The Waldo Moment” just might be Charlie Brooker at his most clairvoyant. A foul-mouthed cartoon bear named Waldo somehow becomes a conservative politician. In 2013, the idea of a raunchy entertainment personality getting into politics was a laughable prospect. Sure, Ronald Reagan was an actor before he was the commander in chief, but his career didn’t involve anything offensive. Waldo is basically like Cartman from South Park becoming president.
Three years later, in 2016 America would elect a reality-TV host/WWE performer/adult film star to lead the country. The prospect wasn’t so laughable after that.
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