
“San Junipero,” the fourth episode of the third season of the series Black Mirror, is a futuristic depiction of a technological, man-made afterlife. In the episode’s universe, the dying population can upload their consciousness to the town of San Junipero, a virtual reality simulation where its inhabitants are young again and can live out eternity in a seemingly perfect world. Because the episode is based on such science-fiction technology, it raises questions about this technology as well as the possibility and consequences of different technological failures. Some of these questions include the “realness” of the simulation and potential technological problems such as the threat of power outages and hacking.

In the very beginning of the episode, on her first night in San Junipero, Yorkie is seen playing the arcade games at the dance club. An unnamed male character proceeds to tell her that the game she is playing was the first to incorporate different endings when playing single- versus double-player. It could be argued that San Junipero itself, like the video game, has the capability for different endings. The ideal two-player game mode for Yorkie is, of course, for Kelly to choose to pass over and be uploaded to San Junipero with Yorkie for “eternity.” However, it is possible that the episode concluded with the single-player ending. This argument can be justified by the evidence that Kelly’s body is not shown with the consciousness device after her death, she never explicitly says she wants to pass over to San Junipero (she instead says it is “time for the rest of it,” which could be interpreted in many different ways), and it is shown that her body is laid to rest with her husband and daughter, which could symbolize her joining them in whatever afterlife they did—or did not—believe in. If this is indeed the case, and Yorkie is not aware that the Kelly she meets at the end of the episode is only a simulation, it raises the question about the “realness” of the simulation in its entirety. 

To discuss the “realness” of the simulation, Kelly points out that San Junipero is being used in Assisted Living homes as “immersive nostalgia therapy” because it supposedly helps with Alzheimer’s. In the real world, virtual reality being used for therapy already exists. In the article “Therapeutic Media: Treating PTSD With Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy,” Kathrin Friedrich describes how virtual reality necessitates “adapting human senses to technological sensors,” and she speaks of “‘outsourcing’ one’s own sensorial and bodily awareness to digital devices, but also toward creating, and relying on, a responsive feedback loop” (Friedrich 91). This information is significant in understanding that, although one form of technology is vastly more primitive in comparison, both San Junipero and VR for PTSD therapy allow the user to momentarily enter another world (albeit the former is much more realistic).

At the end of the episode, the song “Heaven is A Place on Earth” plays in the background while giant robots manage a seemingly endless server room, filled with the consciousness of countless people being uploaded to San Junipero. A clear potential problem in this scenario is the threat of a power outage. One would imagine that San Junipero’s complex system would run on backup generators, but what might happen to the multitude of consciousness while the power was out? Furthermore, what if San Junipero did not have a backup system? Just as it is possible for a college student to lose hours of essay progress to a thunderstorm, it can be inferred that an unscheduled shutdown of San Junipero’s servers could have disastrous consequences.

Another significant problem that is called into question is the possibility of damage due to hackers. A malevolent hacker could turn the pleasure-indulgent Heaven of San Junipero into a torturous eternity in Hell. For those who are taking the “trial run,” like Yorkie was doing before she passed over, hackers could also steal their identities and cause other damage in the real world outside of San Junipero. In the real world, examples of hacking and consequential damage are virtually infinite. According to the article “10 hacks that made headlines” by Joan Goodchild (Editor-in-Chief of CSO, an online provider for news, analysis, and research on security and risk management) and the Senior Editor of CSO, online hacking has the potential to cause an incredibly large amount of damage to companies, economically and otherwise. One notable example is a hack done by Robert Morris in 1988 wherein he unknowingly created the world’s first online “worm…to give him an idea of the size of the web” (Goodchild). The article states that he was “sentenced to three years of probation, 400 hours of community service, a fine of $10,050, and the costs of his supervision.” This information is important in understanding San Junipero because it shows that in our real world, with the right skillset, it is relatively easy to cause large amounts of damage; in a virtual world where the consciousness of countless people is stored, hacking could be even more devastating—not to mention terrifying. 

“San Junipero” is an episode which is surrounded by technology, its uses, and its consequences. In the episode, it is used not only as a man-made, technological afterlife, but also as a therapy treatment for Alzheimer’s; in real life, somewhat similar virtual reality therapy exists for treating PTSD in soldiers. However, on the more problematic side, potential power outages and hacks could mean devastation for the world of San Junipero; just as it has proved to be very damaging in the real world.
