The thought-provoking, yet terrifying idea that we may be able to construct our own realities is one that simultaneously amazes and scares me at the same time. After reading the excerpt on “The Experience Machine” and being given the philosophical question of whether or not we would chose our experiences in lieu of losing a sense of reality is echoed in the Netflix Original Series, Black Mirror. This series is an interspersed collection of narratives of people who live in the not-so-distant future, where technology seemingly runs society, and in most cases, to an extreme detriment. One episode I want to focus on in this critical response is the 4th episode of the 3rd season, called “San Junipero”. In short, this episode is about two young women living in San Junipero, a beachside community, who meet in a nightclub in the 80s. They start a romantic relationship, and later in the episode we see them attending different clubs that seemingly transcend the laws of physics – they attend a 90s rock club, a 2000s pop club, and furthermore, all located in San Junipero. It is later revealed in the episode that these two young women are actually senior citizens in real life, and that they are participating in a “San Junipero” experiment that allows people of old age, the terminally ill, and those struggling with mental illness to travel back in a virtual reality that allows them to “relive life” in any decade of their choosing. It is revealed that the main character has had an extremely hard life on Earth – she comes out as lesbian to her family, and they shun her for life. For 40 years she was outcast in her family and society, as cultural norms were against the LGBTQI community. She decides to go to San Junipero so she can actually be herself and truly explore her sexual identity.
This episode was haunting yet beautiful in many different aspects. The prospect of being able to tune out of reality and into an alternate one can be beneficial, like in terms of the protagonist. But it also poses many philosophical questions that can be supplemented by Sartre’s theories. Sartre in his works on existentialism claims that “existence precedes essence”, indicating that we are born and live before we decide our meaning in life. This also indicates that we are the author of our own choices in a world we cannot chose. We are thrown into a world that has contingencies and circumstances that are not in our control (existence), and our essence is our authorship and decisions that craft our individual lives through choices. Sartre’s 20th century argument is assuming that we are living in a singular reality world, and that things like the experience machine do not exist. However, when we add the component of future technology in a situation like San Junipero, would choosing that alternate reality align with Sartre’s argument? The answer to this is two fold. First, it can be refuted that the characters in San Junipero are not aligning with Sartre’s philosophical ideals because they are born into a world but seek to completely change their circumstances based on an advanced warping of space and time. On the other hand, it can be claimed that the choice to participate in the San Junipero experiment is a factor of their given environments. It is the time and age in which they live in that they cannot control- the fact that they live in a futuristic environment in which technology permeates every aspect of life. They can choose, however, whether or not to use this machine that is a product of their time and age. Thus, San Junipero actually aligns with Sartre’s argument.
But is it moral? Is it right to tune out of our world and into a virtually constructed one? Are we to blame, or is technology to blame? These are questions that I’ve been thinking of ever since watching this beautifully haunting episode, and questions that the entire series poses to its viewers.
Eureka! 