MovieChat Forums > Black Mirror (2011) Discussion > Nosedive - why not hack yourself a bette...

Nosedive - why not hack yourself a better rating?

posted 8 years ago by Movie_Guy79
13 replies | jump to latest

I get that in this future, having some sort of social media app is "mandatory" in the future - and your rating is like a criminal history check, credit report, and intelligence test all in one.

But if your rating was THAT important, why not simply hack it? Modern day government servers with top secret data can be hacked...a smart phone should be easy.

If I was the truck driver and my spouse couldnt get chemotherapy because of his rating, I'd have hacked him up to 5.1 and put it on perma-lock.

[–] leons-16284 8 years ago

Well, no one said it was impossible to hack, but i would like to add that this rating system could have some kind of economic impact, by that said, hacking it could be hard.

[–] leiastarkiller 8 years ago

I'm sure sone people could and would but an average joe doesn't know how to hack into a government server so what makes you think just anyone would have that ability there?

[–] ToHelenBackAgain 8 years ago

Most people can't even update a smartphone OS without running into some problems. Obviously they, we, can't do whatever would be required to accomplish what you propose, even if it is stored in the phone only and not on the internet, which seems unlikely.

But a story about those who could do it, would make a very interesting adjunct episode! Not a Part II, I don't think, that story concluded nicely, but another one set in the same near future, with different characters. I'd watch that.

"Here, with a special report, is a midget in a bikini."

[–] JoostinOnline 8 years ago

I get that in this future, having some sort of social media app is "mandatory" in the future - and your rating is like a criminal history check, credit report, and intelligence test all in one.

But if your rating was THAT important, why not simply hack it? Modern day government servers with top secret data can be hacked...a smart phone should be easy.

If I was the truck driver and my spouse couldnt get chemotherapy because of his rating, I'd have hacked him up to 5.1 and put it on perma-lock

I doubt you can just hook up a Game Shark to a device that is part of every system in the world.

I think you've missed the entire point of Black Mirror. They aren't just stories. They are parables. It's to show a dark possible direction of current society. Whether or not the scores could be hacked doesn't matter. It was to make you think about how much we value public perception through social media. Ten years ago it was just a fun way to chat with friends and express your interests. Now politicians are pretty much required to have Twitter accounts, and the whole world judges everything they say on them.

[–] Movie_Guy79 8 years ago

I think you've missed the entire point of Black Mirror.

Oh I get the parable, and I really like this show. But even given the extremely improbable premise of this episode, I think there would be someone, somewhere who would hack your rating for a fee. Just like there would be people who would rate you high, for a fee. And of course people who would give everyone 1 star (or lower, if possible) just because they can.

Politicians/celebrities/etc on twitter is a good example. They aren't actually on twitter, they hire someone to do it for them.

[–] Reidimsn 8 years ago

Dude people are clueless and don't want to put effort, especially such people, no matter how easy it is. There are guides for almost anything in the internet, but majority of people still can't even do the simplest things.

[–] Nemesis42 8 years ago

These are nightmarish cautionary tales. They have gone a little over the top to make them a bit more nightmarish.
Considering how insane society has become, the story of the Nosedive world is genius.

[–] andidofnurd 8 years ago

I assume they would be significantly harder to "jailbreak" when tied to employment, loans, housing, and other federal interests. And in your brain. It would also be pretty obvious whose "analytics" were not "organic". And if one did attempt to hack and was caught, you could assume insane point penalties and more. Also just a parable, but I think the system in place would be very efficient at incentivizing self-policing for almost everything, including hacking.

[–] utsgeek2 8 years ago

I think that it probably is totally possible to hack the system, but gay would've been an entirely different story. This episode is about a girl who is obsessed with her rating, but seems way too straight laced to even consider hacking the system.

[–] Nemesis42 8 years ago

Not everyone knows how to hack.

[–] PeterMarkoff 8 years ago

go ahead, hack your bank account and add there few millions if you think it's that easy. this is apparently government run *beep* and they take good care so people can't manipulate their score same as you can't in credit card database