Contibutors xi The Black Mirror Multiverse: An Editor’s Note xxiii Introduction 1 Black Mirror: What Science Fiction Does Best 3David Kyle Johnson, with Leander P. Marquez, and Sergio Urueña Season 1 9 1 The National Anthem and Weighing Moral Obligations: Is It Ever OK to F*ck a Pig? 11Brian J. Collins with Brandon Boesch 2 Fifteen Million Merits and Fighting Capitalism: How Can We Resist? 20Chris Byron with Matthew Brake 3 The Entire History of You and Knowing Too Much: Should You Want the Grain? 29Gregor Balke and Bart Engelen Season 2 39 4 Be Right Back and Rejecting Tragedy: Would You Bring Back Your Deceased Loved One? 41Bradley Richards 5 White Bear and Criminal Punishment: How Far is too Far? 50Sid Simpson with Chris Lay 6 The Waldo Moment and Political Discourse: What’s Wrong with Disrespect in Politics? 59Greg Littmann The Christmas Special 69 7 White Christmas and Technological Restraining Orders: Are Digital Blocks Ethical? 71Cansu Canca and Laura Haaber Ihle Season 3 81 8 Nosedive and the Anxieties of Social Media: Is the Future Already Here? 83Sergio Urueña and Nonna Melikyan 9 Playtest and the Power of Virtual Reality: Are Our Fears Real? 92Claire Benn 10 Shut Up and Dance and Vigilante Justice: Should We Ever Take the Law into Our Own Hands? 101Juliele Maria Sievers and Luiz Henrique da Silva Santos 11 San Junipero and the Digital Afterlife: Could Heaven be a Place on Earth? 109James Cook 12 Men Against Fire and Political Manipulation: How Are We Tricked into Dehumanizing Others? 118Bertha Alvarez Manninen 13 Hated in the Nation and #DeathTo: What are the Consequences of Trial by Twitter? 128Aline Maya Season 4 141 14 USS Callister and Non‐Player Characters: How Should We Act in Video Games? 143Russ Hamer with Steven Gubka 15 Arkangel and Parental Surveillance: What are a Parent’s Obligations? 151Catherine Villanueva Gardner with Alexander Christian 16 Crocodile and the Ethics of Self Preservation: How Far is Too Far? 160Darci Doll 17 Hang the DJ and Digital Dating: Should We Use Computers to Help Us Find Mates? 168Skye C. Cleary and Massimo Pigliucci 18 Metalhead and Technophobia: How Dangerous Will Robots Be? 177Scott Midson with Justin Donhauser 19 Black Museum and Righting Wrongs: Should We Seek Revenge? 187Gregory L. Bock, Jeffrey L. Bock, and Kora Smith Bandersnatch 197 20 Bandersnatch: A Choose‐Your‐Own Philosophical Adventure 199Chris Lay and David Kyle Johnson Season 5 239 21 Striking Vipers and Closed Doors: How Meaningful Are Sexual Fantasies? 241Darren M. Slade 22 Smithereens and the Economy of Attention: Are We All Dopamine Addicts? 251Pierluca D’Amato 23 Empathy, Emulation and Ashley Too: Can a Robot Be a Friend? 260George A. Dunn Black Mirror Reflections 271 24 Consciousness Technology in Black Mirror: Do Cookies Feel Pain? 273David Gamez with David Kyle Johnson 25 Personal Identity in Black Mirror: Is Your Cookie You? 282Molly Gardner and Robert Sloane 26 Death in Black Mirror: How Should We Deal with Our Mortality? 292Edwardo Pérez and Sergio Genovesi 27 Love in Black Mirror: Who Do We Really Love? 301Robert Grant Price 28 Perception in Black Mirror: Who Controls What You See? 311Brian Stiltner and Anna Vaughn 29 The Dangers of Technology in Black Mirror: A Dialogue between Uploaded Dead Philosophers 320Ben Springett with Luiz Adriano Borges Conclusion 333 30 Black Mirror in the Future: Will We Still be Watching? 335Geoffrey A. Mitelman Appendix: How to Use This Book in the Classroom 338 Index 340

PHILOSOPHY/POP CULTURE What dangers does the rapid advancement of technology pose? Have we given social media too much power over our lives? Could heaven really, one day, be a place on Earth? Should criminal justice and punishment be crowdsourced? What rights should a "cookie" have? The future is bright—or is it? In the dystopian near-future of the Emmy-winning sci-fi television series Black Mirror—where consciousness can be incarcerated in circuitry, social media metrics determine class status, and the dead can be robotically or digitally reanimated—it is all too easy to fall victim to the dangers of a technologically-driven world and its ever-evolving forms of social control. From surveilled minds to violated memories, Charlie Brooker's high-concept anthology series takes an incisive look at the darkest reflections of the human condition in digital technology through sharply allegorical tales that tap into our collective techno-paranoia with remarkable acuity. Black Mirror and Philosophy unravels the philosophical threads woven throughout the show's futurist premises, including questions about artificial intelligence, virtual reality, surveillance, privacy, love, death, criminal behavior, and politics. Original essays written by a diverse group of scholars invite you to peer into the void and explore the ethical, political, and existential dimensions of Brooker's sinister stories (and hunt for some Easter eggs in the process). The collection pairs a chapter with each episode in Black Mirror's five seasons—including an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure analysis of Bandersnatch—and concludes with general essays that examine the series' broad themes. Immersive, engaging, and experimental, Black Mirror and Philosophy navigates the intellectual landscape of Brooker's morality plays for the modern world, where humanity's greatest innovations and darkest instincts collide.