★★★★☆ Upload Season 4, created by Greg Daniels
A TV show about enshittification
Upload Season 4
Created by Greg Daniels
A TV show about enshittification
The premise of the Amazon Prime video show Upload is ably summarized by Wikipedia, and I will cheat by quoting.
In 2033, humans can “upload“ themselves into a virtual afterlife of their choosing. When computer programmer Nathan Brown dies prematurely, he is uploaded to the very expensive Lakeview, but then finds himself under the thumb of his possessive, still-living girlfriend Ingrid. As Nathan adjusts to the pros and cons of digital heaven, he bonds with Nora, his living customer service rep. Nora struggles with the pressures of her job, her dying father who does not want to be uploaded, and her growing feelings for Nathan while slowly coming to believe that Nathan was murdered.
This premise reflects an error that is, I think, quite common among Science Fiction fans—that the upload of human minds is a near-future technology, like, for instance, self-driving cars (which are also commonplace in Upload). As a neuroscientist, I am here to tell you that we are not going to be uploading human minds into realistic computer simulations any time soon. There is no one alive today who has any idea how to begin to do that. One never knows when breakthroughs will come, but if uploading is freely available as a retirement option by 2033 (a mere eight years now), I will be extremely surprised.
Don’t let that discourage you from watching the show, if it sounds like the kind of thing you like. It’s a good show, clever and imaginative, often funny, and romantic. There’s some good acting, particularly on the part of the female leads Andy Allo as Nora Antony, and Allegra Edwards Ingrid Kannerman. (Robbie Amell as Nathan Brown is kind of blah, but honestly, the story doesn’t give him much to do. He’s basically just there to look pretty. I suppose we should applaud TV in which the male lead looks pretty while the female leads play the active roles.) Seasons 1-3 laid out a fairly complicated plot which I will not, to avoid spoiling, say much about. Season 3 left a lot of loose ends dangling.
Season 4 is short: a mere four episodes, and has as its evident aim to tie up those loose ends and conclude the series. It does a good job. The ending is clever and satisfying.
Although the apparent theme of the show, uploading minds, is not a current question and not likely to become one any time soon, the show is actually, I assert, about a current topic, what Cory Doctorow called “enshittification”.
Good series. Recommended.
Upload on IMDB.
Upload on Amazon Prime video.