黑镜第一季第一集：高科技订阅制下的生命悲剧与社会反思

接着昨天的话题，黑镜第一季的第一集讲述了一个非常悲伤的故事。丈夫为了挽救生命垂危的妻子，尝试采用了最新的科技，没想到这却是一个订阅制的套餐。想要获得正常甚至尊贵的体验，就得不断升级，但这超出了普通阶层的承受范围。最后，在体验了一把特价尊享体验套餐所带来的美妙感觉之后，他们双双选择了结束自己的生命，向这个对普通人来说并不友好的世界告别了。

其实，生命能够存在本身就是一个奇迹，而熵增定律也表明没有什么事情能够长久存在。所以面对这样的结局，虽然悲伤，但也是大多数人不得不面对的。只是这部剧将苦难的原因归因于高科技公司的压榨，放大了普通阶层的苦难。这有些归因错误了。

看看现在的时代，再回顾一下文艺工作者和知识分子的论点，我们也就能够理解为什么在西方出现工业革命，人类生产力水平和生活水平出现了历史上前所未有的飞跃的时候，会产生马克思主义这样的思想了。按照这部剧集的观点，颇有些阶级斗争的意味。其实造成剧中这对夫妇悲剧的并不是哪家高科技公司提供的订阅制服务没完没了的压榨和升级，而是妻子身患的绝症。而那家公司提供的技术方案近乎完美地解决了这个问题。当然，这只是科幻而已。

在现实中，我是有亲身体验的。当至亲的人身患绝症，随时有可能失去的时候，你不会要求更多，也不会想让他恢复如初，只要他还能陪在你身边，就已经是最大的心理满足了。而那家公司已经做到了这一点，由于无法忍受不停的广告植入和不能漫游，这只不过是主角还想要更多的对正常生活的渴望和执着所导致的。就像在工业革命初期，虽然工人们工作量大、工作环境艰苦，但相比前工业化时代只能做农民来说，生活水平和经济收入是大幅改善的，更别提像俄罗斯这样的国家，农民就是农奴。所以，这些知识分子和文艺工作者只看到了艰苦的一面，却没有看到光明的一面。

当然，《黑镜》的基调就是警醒人们高科技和新的商业模式所带来的社会负效应，有些夸大也是可以理解的。但我们还是要看到，高科技的发展给人们生活带来的生活水平的改善才是主流。

当然，也不是说那家公司所代表的现在非常时髦的订阅制服务就一点问题都没有。感觉这样的经营模式模糊了商品和服务的所有权，这似乎与市场经济建立在产权明晰的基础上有些不太协调。

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Following up on yesterday's topic, the first episode of the first season of Black Mirror tells a very sad story. In an attempt to save his critically ill wife, the husband tried to adopt the latest technology. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a subscription-based package. To obtain a normal or even noble experience, one has to keep upgrading, but this is beyond the affordability of the ordinary class. Finally, after experiencing the wonderful feeling brought by the special offer exclusive experience package, they both chose to end their lives and bid farewell to this world that is not friendly to ordinary people.

In fact, the existence of life itself is a miracle, and the law of entropy increase also indicates that nothing can last long. So in the face of such an ending, although it is sad, it is also something that most people have to confront. It's just that this drama attributes the cause of suffering to the exploitation by high-tech companies, magnifying the hardships of the ordinary class. This is somewhat of an attribution error.

Looking at the current era and reviewing the arguments of literary and artistic workers and intellectuals, we can understand why the idea of Marxism emerged when the Industrial Revolution took place in the West and human productivity and living standards made an unprecedented leap in history. From the perspective of this series, it has quite a hint of class struggle. In fact, what caused the tragedy of the couple in the play was not the endless exploitation and upgrading of the subscription service provided by some high-tech company, but the terminal illness that the wife was suffering from. The technical solution provided by that company nearly perfectly solved this problem. Sure, this is just science fiction.

In reality, I have had personal experience. When a close relative is suffering from a terminal illness and is at risk of losing them at any moment, you won't ask for more or wish for them to return to their original state. As long as they can still be by your side, that is already the greatest psychological satisfaction. And that company has achieved this. Due to the inability to tolerate continuous product placement and the inability to roam, this is merely caused by the protagonist's still desire and persistence for a normal life more. Just like in the early days of the Industrial Revolution, although workers had heavy workloads and harsh working conditions, compared with the pre-industrial era when they could only be farmers, their living standards and economic income improved significantly. Not to mention in a country like Russia, where farmers were serfs. So, these intellectuals and cultural workers only saw the hard side but failed to see the bright side.

Of course, the tone of "Black Mirror" is to alert people to the negative social effects brought about by high technology and new business models. Some exaggeration is understandable. However, we still need to recognize that the improvement of people's living standards brought about by the development of high technology is the mainstream.

Of course, it doesn't mean that the subscription service represented by that company, which is now very fashionable, has no problems at all. It seems that such a business model blurs the ownership of goods and services, which appears somewhat inconsistent with the market economy that is based on clear property rights.