# Black Mirror season 3(open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 21, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237 "2016-10-21T12:59:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/83 "2016-10-26T19:39:11Z")
Question: did the song from 15 Million Merits (which also showed up in another episode) show up in one of these episodes? I thought I heard it but can’t remember when. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/84 "2016-10-26T19:54:12Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Question: did the song from 15 Million Merits (which also showed up in another episode) show up in one of these episodes? I thought I heard it but can’t remember when. Yes, blonde girl was singing it in the soldier episode. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/85 "2016-10-26T20:18:55Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I guess I’m weird because it sounds like it would be fun for a time but become a burden eventually. Living my life now I have no idea what happens after I die, if anything. In the simulation I know exactly what happens and can basically choose it whenever I want. That concept seems scary and overwhelming to me, not a fun happy ending. > > It’s essentially volunteering to live in the Matrix knowing there is nothing at all else in the universe beyond it. How do you know there’s nothing else beyond it? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/86 "2016-10-26T20:30:40Z")
What’s kind of being ignored in the whole discussion of the San Junipero episode is that you _still_ die. Heaven, hell, or oblivion still await you. What happens is that your mental essence is captured, copied and placed in an electronically created nirvana. It isn’t you, but one can argue that it’s the “next best thing” because it remembers your memories, thinks your thoughts, and feels your emotions. Or you can argue that it is you, just without all the wetware. You do still die, it just isn’t as fatal as it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/87 "2016-10-26T21:48:00Z")
Sounds like the “the Star Trek teleporter kills you” argument all over again 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2016, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/88 "2016-10-26T21:56:23Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Yes, blonde girl was singing it in the soldier episode. Pretty sure Lacie was singing it to herself in episode 1 too. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/89 "2016-10-27T00:41:26Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > Pretty sure Lacie was singing it to herself in episode 1 too. Love, love, love when they do tie-ins like that. Like Stephen King books that reference each other. I tried to watch episode 6 twice and fell asleep both times. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/90 "2016-10-27T01:09:00Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Love, love, love when they do tie-ins like that. Like Stephen King books that reference each other. > > I tried to watch episode 6 twice and fell asleep both times. There are massive amounts of crossovers between episodes, but for most of them you gotta be quick with the pause button. [Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/blackmirror/comments/46u5di/working_list_of_episode_connections/) is a list of the ones reddit has found so far. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/91 "2016-10-27T01:24:49Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > The real problem I had with “Hated in the Nation” was the big ol’ Idiot Ball being passed around > > [spoiler]Not just Government Agency Guy ignoring everyone else to hit the button of doom at the end. They knew their buddy was on the list to get bee’d, and they knew how the bees found their victims. > > PUT A DAMN BAG ON THE GUY’S HEAD, you morons! They _knew_ the bees identified their victims by facial recognition - no face to recognize, safe from bees. Cripes. Instead, they just stood there watching bees come up to the window, fully realizing the guy had been targeted.[/spoiler] My thought was that they could jam the procedure by getting a program to vote for Fred Flintstone a billion times or something like that. No such luck. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/92 "2016-10-27T01:26:34Z")
The thing about San Junipero that I don’t get… Surely you don’t get to live in such paradise for free, right? I can see how maybe Kelly has enough money to purchase an eternal subscription, but what about Yorkie? She’s been in nursing care for most of her life so she probably doesn’t have a big pile of savings, and it doesn’t seem like her parents would have been onboard with financing virtual heaven mumbo-jumbo. Especially for no stinkin’ lesbian. I enjoyed episode 6 even though the plot hinged on everyone making stupid assumptions and decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/93 "2016-10-27T01:36:16Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > The thing about San Junipero that I don’t get… > > Surely you don’t get to live in such paradise for free, right? I can see how maybe Kelly has enough money to purchase an eternal subscription, but what about Yorkie? She’s been in nursing care for most of her life so she probably doesn’t have a big pile of savings, and it doesn’t seem like her parents would have been onboard with financing virtual heaven mumbo-jumbo. Especially for no stinkin’ lesbian. I don’t know, maybe it’s a public service? I mean, lol US and public services, but maybe this is the Good Alternate Future. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/94 "2016-10-27T01:39:57Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > Take away the mass death via a hero and 6 was a doctor who episode. This’s actually a very good point. And not one of the better Who episodes, or even one of the memorably awful ones; more like a _Partners in Crime_-tier episode nobody remembers two seasons later. It would not have been out of place for the Doctor to show up and wave his Sonic Screwdriver at a bunch of robot bees. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/95 "2016-10-27T01:46:16Z")
Maybe people buy life insurance policies that pay out to the company that runs the servers. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/96 "2016-10-27T01:47:44Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > How do you know there’s nothing else beyond it? Because it is just a simulation of their brain pattern in a computer. The episode’s end literally shows us this. The people are dead, all they are now is a simulation of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/97 "2016-10-27T01:58:03Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Because it is just a simulation of their brain pattern in a computer. The episode’s end literally shows us this. The people are dead, all they are now is a simulation of themselves. Okay, but there are multiple interpretations of what “life” means. You can interpret it in a holistic bodily sense, or in the sense of “continuity of consciousness”. While it’s true that their bodies stopped functioning, it’s also clear that there’s a unique continuity of consciousness between the brain and the silicon imprint of that brain. Obviously, the philosophy of life, consciousness, and so on is a huge, complex philosophical discussion, but I don’t think it’s clear cut that they’re just “dead” and this is some fake horrific simulacrum. It depends a lot on your personal interpretation of “life”, and is arguably more of a semantic issue than one of realism the way, say, the Dualism vs Physical Monism debate is. Especially since it’s not clear what exactly is the “essence” of human consciousness anyway. It would be more clear cut if you could prove people had a soul that did or did not go to heaven due to/regardless of them going to San Junipero, but if you assume all that awaits one after death is oblivion things get murkier. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/98 "2016-10-27T02:04:10Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > Maybe people buy life insurance policies that pay out to the company that runs the servers. That was my thought. That’s what the Alcor Life Extension people do. Make them the beneficiary of an adequate life insurance policy and they’ll freeze your head or body to be reanimated when technology allows. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/99 "2016-10-27T02:25:51Z")
I guess my point is I don’t see a difference between what is in San Junipero and the Simulation in the Christmas episode that (I’ll put it in spoilers since it is a different season) gets brow beaten into being a slave. In SJ they aren’t being mistreated like that one was but the concept is the same. If I were just a copy of myself living in a program, it would be fun for a while but eventually the fun wears off and you realize there is nothing else, nothing at all. That’s really empty and scary to me. It would be like if they somehow found absolute proof this universe was a simulation except in this case I know for sure it is because I volunteered for it. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/100 "2016-10-27T02:44:25Z")
As I said in an earlier post; technology will advance to the point where they could be moved out of the virtual world back into the real one in immortal android bodies externally indistinguishable from the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/101 "2016-10-27T12:32:55Z")
In “San Junipero”, when Kelly makes her little speech about there being nothing after death, and her husband has not rejoined their daughter forever in the afterlife, that’s the writers telling us that _for her_ there is no consideration about whether her presence in San Junipero will be her “soul” or just some simulation of her soul. She doesn’t believe in a soul; what she has in San Junipero is all that’s left of her. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2016, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237/102 "2016-10-27T13:07:00Z")
At the end, when they were inserting the device into the giant control panel, I got the impression that the person’s essence was contained within the device. What’s to prevent setting it up so that the device isn’t activated until, say, a year after death. Then you’re resurrected and have the knowledge that they didn’t activate it for a year and you then know whether that year was nothingness or something else. You can then make a more informed decision as to whether to continue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-mirror-season-3-open-spoilers/769237.md?page=6)