Since Black Mirror was handed over to Yankee, I haven't pursued it again. I went on a trip a few days ago. I was probably caught in the cold and had a headache all the way. Fortunately, the wifi signal on the train was strong, so I looked for a black mirror in the fourth quarter. Looking at the reviews before, I said that the quality distribution of the six episodes of Black Mirror is generally okay with three episodes, two episodes are good, and one episode is very good; this season also conforms to this law, I think the best is the final episode Black museum (Dark Museum S4E6 ), the 2nd and 4th episodes of hang the DJ (hang the DJS4E4) are good, the others are average.
Free will and determinism are one of the old themes of Black Mirror, and this time the Hanged DJ played a new trick. We might as well use it as a case to talk about the classic philosophical problem of free will and determinism .
Let me briefly explain these two terms, "free will" and "determinism". You must have asked yourself, is man free? Many of us think we are free. We can choose to drink or not to drink, to eat or not to eat, we can choose this job or that job. These choices make us feel that all our beliefs and actions are entirely based on our own wishes and decisions. This view, that is, the belief that people have the ability to act completely freely, is called libertarian free will . But at the same time, many people believe that everything has a cause and effect. All things that happen now are the results of things that happened before, and all things that happen now will also cause things to happen later. We can call this view hard determinism ( hard determinism ) . So in one sentence, when answering the question "Are people free?", the former nodded, thinking that people are free through free extension of will, while the latter shook his head, too young too simple, people are like marionettes of causality. Any seemingly free development is nothing but an "invisible thread."
You may ask, what do free will and determinism have to do with me? Why is this problem important? Leaving aside the philosophical weight of this question itself, you only have to think about its extension in our lives and you will find that it regulates our morals, shapes the laws of the society in which we live, and carries the hope of our development. Imagine the current judicial system. If the murderer Xiao Ming is just a marionette, should he still be responsible for his actions? Can the state apparatus punish him properly? Imagine that you didn't finish your work because of your laziness, and you were paid on the grounds of determinism. Should your boss pay you? You see, the boundaries of laws, regulations, and social customs are based on how we view whether people have and how much free will they have. So, is man free?
In the Hanged DJ story, single men and women Frank and Amy use dating software to find true love. In the beginning, they were not free : they used dating software to determine the date and the length of the date; the same restaurant and hotel rooms, even if they do not like each other very much, they must follow the system's instructions. The first appearance of personal will was after Frank and Amy's beautiful first date, which was given only 12 hours by the system, ended. Frank and Amy obviously have a good opinion of each other, but they were forced to end prematurely. They both asked the system, "How do you know that he/she is not the one?" But at this time, their will is very limited and weak. After being slightly fooled by the system, he gave up and continued to obey the system to arrange a non-stop blind date. Frank is forced to spend a year with a woman who has no fun, and Amy jumps between short romances; both of them miss each other.
At this time, the system arranged for Frank and Amy to meet for the second time. In this encounter, the two people have a personal will (like each other and are willing to be with each other), and choose to use it (suspension system domination). But Frank couldn't help but check the length of time the two were able to get along, and the system was changed due to unilateral inspection. The originally scheduled five years was shortened to 10 hours, and Amy left sadly because of Frank's "betrayal". When they met for the second time, the two people had a personal will and were willing to use it; but the two people's wills were not unified and conflicted . Both parties fell back into the life set by the system.
Until Amy was told, the system found her true love. Amy decides to meet Frank for the last time. When they met for the third time, the personal will of the two people re-emerged and became firm and unified . Frank said to Amy, I don't want the true love set by the system, I want you, and Amy replied, when I want you too, the two people's will is formed. It is clear, firm, and out of personal sincerity (not controlled by outsiders). But this is not the full meaning of free will; free will needs to be perfected by concrete actions driven by will. Frank and Amy fought the system together, and when they really stepped out and climbed up the high wall, their free will was finally complete: at this time, they were free. So in a word, people must have the so-called "free will." This will must be clear, firm, and sincere, and it must also drive concrete actions .
But the black mirror did not end here. As soon as the camera turns, we discover that this bunch of free will buds and blooms before is just a simulation of the system. The system simulates a thousand dates between Frank and Amy, of which 998 times they all ended in resistance; in the real world, Amy and Frank smiled at each other in the bar, and their adventure has just begun.
This ending is an excellent reversal. Isn't it the best interpretation of determinism? Throw apples from the tower 1,000 times and land 998 times. Doesn't the frank and amy law of such a clear behavior pattern conform to the explanation of the law of causality? Didn't their 998 resistances just prove their conjecture that they are determined by the law of causality? The development and maturity of the personal will we saw for the 998th time is not the illusion of "free will" under the strong law of causality?
So, can people be free?
You can think of the Hanged DJ episode as a philosophical debate. The free-willed babbled in the first half, but couldn't cope with the final five minutes of the determinist's counterattack. If Frank and Amy’s love is inevitable, can they still be free? Does the love they toss and turn for and sleeplessly make sense?
(Welcome to leave a message to talk about your views. If the black mirror is good, it will inspire us to think about those really important issues. Don't accept what you can not change, change what you can not accept! Give it to everyone.)
Supplement: Why is the English title called "Hang the DJ"?
The English title of Hang the DJ has at least two related points: 1. Lyrics and meaning: "hang the DJ" appears in the ending song panic. If you read the lyrics of this song carefully, you will find that this song is closely related to the theme. The anxiety of love is compared to the widespread and irrational panic, "hang the blessed dj, because the music that they constantly play, it says nothing to me about my life..." ( hang the DJ, because of their persistent music, (It has nothing to do with my life) The system in the play, the love coach, is like a arrogant DJ, it uses the fragments of your life to interpret and arrange the music, trying to convince you that this is the truest you, but it is true NS? hang the blessed DJ! (blessed is good) 2. The connection between DJ and destiny. The DJ-Music group of intentions is a very good expression of the destiny-free will wrestling in the text. Therefore, every detail in a good work is highly related and all point to the same theme. What do you think?
Attach the lyrics of this song: panic by the Smiths Panic on the streets of London Panic on the streets of Birmingham I wonder to myself could life ever be sane again? the leeds side-streets that you slip down i wonder to myself hopes may rise on the grasmere but honey pie, you're not safe here so you run down to the safety of the town but there's panic on the streets of carlisle dublin, dundee, humberside i wonder to myself Burn down the disco hang the blessed dj because the music that they constantly play it says nothing to me about my life hang the blessed dj because the music they constantly play on the leeds side-streets that you slip down provincial towns you jog'round hang the dj, hang the dj, hang the dj hang the dj, hang the dj, hang the dj hang the dj, hang the dj, hang the dj hang the dj, hang the dj hang the dj……
View more about USS Callister reviews
