The British television program Black Mirror features episodes that cover a variety of genres, although its main themes are science fiction and technology. Many of the episodes have well-developed characters and take place in dystopian societies.
But can Black Mirror predict the future? Some viewers have claimed that the events depicted in the program have already occurred or are about to. That makes us wonder whether science is really catching up with fiction. How near are the fictional worlds of Black Mirror to reality?
In our first Black Mirror blog post, I explored the future of artificial intelligence and in another one, I looked at how we could live in a simulation after we die. This time around, I’ll be looking at something a bit spicier: sex in virtual reality.
Can Black Mirror Predict the Future of Technology?
Black Mirror is considered one of the best Netflix shows of the 2010s. Each episode gets you hooked and leaves you wanting more. The last episode aired in 2019, and since then, no new seasons have been released. However, we have some great news for Black Mirror fans, as a brand new season started shooting in July 2022.
We have all seen how much technology has progressed over the years. What was portrayed in Black Mirror episodes back in 2010 no longer seems like science fiction. Some of the technological advancements mentioned in the show, like VR (Virtual Reality), have already taken place, which is exciting but worrying at the same time.
The desire to escape
I’ve only recently gotten back into gaming. When I was younger, I would purposefully wake up early on Saturdays to play Zelda on my brother’s GameCube. I never considered myself a real gamer, but then COVID-19 hit.
During the early stages of the pandemic, the number of people who play video games in the United States increased by 46%. From a global obsession with Animal Crossing to a booming VR market — during COVID, many people, me included, returned to games and VR gaming to escape reality for a little bit.
Then, in October 2021, Mark Zuckerberg announced his vision for the VR future: the Metaverse. A place where we — that is, our avatars — can do everything: work, play, and socialize. A place that can be just as good, if not better, than our real world.
This theme is at the heart of the Black Mirror episode I’m looking at today: “Striking Vipers.”
Black Mirror: Striking Vipers – Season 5, Episode 1
The Black Mirror “Striking Vipers” episode is the first of the show’s fifth season. It was written by Charlie Brooker and directed by Owen Harris. Careful: What follows has spoilers for the entire episode.
The episode is centered on two long-time friends, Danny (Anthony Mackie) and Karl (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who reconnect over an upgraded VR version of Striking Vipers, an old game they used to play together. The virtual reality game, which is clearly inspired by Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, is accessed through a fully immersive virtual rig they have to place at their temple.
In the virtual realm of the game, Danny and Karl roleplay fighting matches. Every sensation in the video game is experienced as real, whether pain or desire. As a result, things get complicated when Danny and Karl’s VR interactions take a sexual turn, and the two begin a sexual relationship in the VR world. This has irreversible consequences for their real-life relationships.
The episode explores how adopting a VR body influences our real identity, as well as the limitations of these experiences.
How Will Virtual Reality Evolve?
Generally, the Black Mirror “Striking Vipers” episode was well-received by the public. However, some critics felt that the episode didn’t explore its themes of queer blackness and bisexuality with enough depth. In comparison to its series counterpart, “San Junipero,” the episode lacked some emotional impact.
At the same time, “Striking Vipers” explores a very intriguing concept and raises relevant questions for our time. How realistic might VR still get? Will virtual reality worlds allow us to be who we really want to be? Is it dangerous to blur fantasy with reality to this extent?
The episode also looks at the general escapism of games and the temptation to be someone other than yourself. It takes the power of games as a given: the desire to live in a fantasy world for some of our time rather than in our actual reality.
From the popular Meta headsets (previously Oculus Quest) to the abundance of online VR pornography—whether we want to or not, virtual reality is already very much shaping the way we live our day-to-day lives.
Time to look at how realistic the technology in Black Mirror’s “Striking Vipers” is and what its development would mean for our future.
Science Fact or Science Fiction: Can This Become Reality?
As for each episode in this blog series, I’m using a Science Fact to Science Fiction scale to see how close we are to the Black Mirror reality. For “Striking Vipers,” these are the main topics to consider:
- VR games and VR worlds
- VR pornography
- Immersive VR technology
- VR sex
For these topics, the scale looks like this:
Let’s take a closer look at each of these.
Living in Virtual Reality: New Games and Worlds
People have longed to enter virtual worlds since the early days of gaming. It’s no surprise, then, that in recent years, VR headsets have become extremely popular.
VR can be adapted in a myriad of ways: you can meet people from all over the world, treat patients with symptoms of PTSD, provide surgical or flight training, use it for educational purposes, and, of course, enjoy its entertainment options.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is the current market leader when it comes to AR/VR. The Meta Quest 2 headset is extremely popular. It is mainly used as a VR gaming headset, though it can also be used for all sorts of activities, from online meetings to workouts. In fact, some expect that, in the future, we might spend the majority of our lives in VR.
Meet me in the Metaverse
In 2021, Zuckerberg made headlines with the announcement of the Metaverse. The Times called it his “techno-utopian dreamland where the virtual and physical worlds will meld.” According to Zuckerberg, people will be able to do “almost anything” they can imagine in the Metaverse. Work, learn, play, shop. (Have sex? We’ll get there.)
On a technical level, we’re still in the early days of its development. The tech for the Metaverse will likely need to be developed by various companies. From haptic vests to digital scent technology, it takes a lot to create a fully immersive experience. Not to mention managing the complexities of in-world economies and virtual real estate.
However, there has been a lot of progress. One of the more significant developments in recent times is Epic Games’ contribution of its powerful Unreal Engine 5 to the Metaverse. Unreal Engine 5 is one of the best graphics engines of the moment, if not the best. As a result, smaller companies and developers can now help improve the Metaverse experience.
Issues with the Metaverse
Despite receiving large investments, however, the Metaverse is not yet doing as well as expected. Social virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds has less than 200,000 monthly active users. The problem, to a certain extent, is that VR technology is still quite a niche. It’s a far cry from the massive mainstream utopia Zuckerberg had envisioned.
In terms of physical experience, VR headsets still cause a high level of discomfort and have tons of negative side effects, including insomnia and a higher vulnerability to depression and anxiety. For kids, the risks of VR are even higher.
Another key critique of the Metaverse is the neglect of real-world issues in favor of living our lives digitally. While our escapist tendencies make sense, numbing ourselves to real-life crises by spending increasing amounts of time online won’t make them go away.
Only time will tell how big the Metaverse will actually get.
The Popularity of VR Pornography
Perhaps this comes as a surprise, perhaps not: the most popular search time for virtual reality is “VR porn.” As long as VR has been around, the concept of virtual reality pornography has been close behind. During the COVID-19 pandemic, especially, sex moved online. From sexting to the rise of OnlyFans: sex in virtual spaces is nothing new.
First, a note on terminology. VR porn is not the same as VR sex, though they are similar. When it comes to sex in virtual reality, the purpose is simulation: thanks to certain software and technological devices, you can be the person having virtual sex. There’s an interactive element to it. VR pornography is about consumption: you view pornographic material in VR, but you don’t actually embody the experience.
In order to access VR porn, you need a virtual reality headset. While VR porn is very likely here to stay, it’s not without criticism. In the first place, as with regular porn, VR pornography is largely male-oriented and criticized for perpetrating harmful and misogynistic views. On top of that, general concern about deepfake technology and revenge porn also applies to the world of virtual reality.
It’s highly likely that the technology used for VR pornography can be used to target and harm people. And then, we haven’t even touched upon actual VR sex.
Immersive VR Technology and Sex Toys
Let’s go back to the Black Mirror “Striking Vipers” episode for a second. One of the key elements of the episode is that the simulation game is so immersive that it feels like real life. Can a video game like this actually be programmed? How immersive has VR become in recent years? Does the future of VR include memory implants, too?
From cyber shoes and VR gloves that allow you to walk through and touch your virtual reality world to full-on haptic vests that simulate every experience—tech developers are doing anything they can think of to provide a fully physical sensation and make VR as realistic as possible.
VR tricks your brain: you’re well aware that what you’re seeing isn’t real, but it feels like it is. Companies like bHaptics and Teslasuit focus on wearable haptic suits that track your motion, read your biometric values, and produce sensations all over your body.
Of course, within this industry, people are also investing in sex.
Sex toys for VR
VR sex relies on user interaction, a mixture of audio-visual data, and haptics that are specifically designed for virtual sex, also known as teledildonics. These devices are programmed to interact with the internet.
Naturally, there are security issues to keep in mind. As with other smart devices, such as smart speakers and baby monitors, everything that’s connected to the online world can be hacked.
On top of that, the experience may suffer from a variety of issues, such as a bad Bluetooth connection or bad design. In terms of privacy, you barely have any control over how the data from these toys will be used or stored. The world of VR sex is difficult to regulate and moderate properly.
So, while toys will continue to improve, fully immersive VR sex is not completely realized — and also not as safe as it could be.
Sex in Virtual Reality: The Future?
Sex sim technology, as portrayed in Black Mirror’s “Striking Vipers,” is not yet available. In the show, all Danny and Karl have to do is attach a little rig to their temples. But in real life, without excessive and expensive ($13,000 for a Teslasuit) haptic technology, the experience is simply not immersive enough. Still, VR sex is certainly on the rise.
From VR pornography, the leap to VR sex is not so far. In fact, there are several virtual worlds that are specifically created as places for VR sex, such as the Viro Club. And, though explicit content is banned on VRChat, the most popular social virtual reality platform, there’s an abundance of it. Since it violates community guidelines, underground events, such as VR sex parties, are organized privately and are invite-only.
While some view VR sex as an empowering and freeing experience, there are several concerns. How do you deal with consent in VR? What about sex acts that are taboo and even illegal in the real world? How can user privacy be protected? And, most importantly, perhaps, what about kids and online predators?
Moderation and consent
Abuse in VR is not uncommon. In a Centre for Countering Digital Hate report on VRChat, it’s stated that there were over 100 instances of sexual harassment, racism, or abuse in an 11.5-hour window.
While it might seem easy to mute, block or report other users in VR, as we do on social media, moderators face unique challenges. In many instances, it’s up to the judgment of the moderator since guidelines are vague.
Moreover, there are many legislative gaps in addressing online harm. Since tech is developing so fast, policy tends to lack behind.
Privacy
Another key issue with VR is privacy regulation. Experts are concerned about the amount of biometric data that gets collected when people use virtual reality. A VR headset can get you to know someone very intimately. While human analysts might not be able to process the sheer volume of all collected data, AI systems certainly can.
Feed this information into algorithms, and you’ve got a premise for another Black Mirror episode. VR will become even more addictive. On top of that, your preferences might become more extreme or altered in any possible way. How will this shape people’s desires? How will this influence their real-life engagement with sex?
It’s impossible to know what the future might bring, but there’s enough to be concerned about.
What’s the Verdict on Virtual Reality?
Black Mirror’s “Striking Vipers” introduces us to many technological developments that are currently in development. VR games, VR pornography, and VR sex all seem to be here to stay. While this episode isn’t quite as realistic as other sci-fi shows set in the near future, like The Capture, it isn’t just a fantasy, either.
Currently, the biggest obstacles to a fully immersive experience are graphics and haptics. While the VR work from engines like Unreal Engine 5 is extremely impressive, virtual environments still need tons of development. On top of that, the haptic equipment necessary to really feel as though you’re in the world is expensive and not widely available.
More importantly, perhaps, VR sex has a lot of ethical complications that are not easily addressed. How can we protect people against abuse? What about the risks of deepfakes and revenge porn? What will companies do with all the biometric user data they collect? At the same time, these limitations don’t seem to be stopping the development of VR. While we might not be living in the world of “Striking Vipers,” we’re certainly on our way, for better or worse.
What’s your favorite Black Mirror episode? Leave a comment down below, and maybe your episode will be up next!
