As part of my visit to Delft University earlier this year, Ianus Keller asked his IDE Master Students to do some analysis of the amazing British sci-fi interface series Black Mirror, specifically the “White Christmas” episode. While I ordinarily wait for television programs to be complete before reviewing them, Black Mirror is an anthology series, where each new show presents a new story world, or diegesis.

Overview

Matt (John Hamm) and Potter (Rafe Spall) are in a cabin sharing stories about their relationship with technology and their loved ones. Matt tells stories about his past career of (1) delivering “romantic services” to “dorks” using a direct link to his client’s eyes and (2) his regular job of training clones of people’s personalities as assistive Artificial Intelligences. Potter tells the story of his relationship to his wife and alleged daughter, who blocks him through the same vision controlling interface. In the end…

…it turns out Matt and Potter are actually talking to each other as interrogator and artificial intelligence respectively, in order to get Potter convicted.