Note: This analysis contains spoilers for Upload.
Upload is a cutting and thought-provoking science fiction comedy, where in the near future, 2033, people can have their consciousness uploaded into a virtual, digital afterlife. In this simulated reality, people are able to live out the remainder of their “days” – or all of eternity if you can afford to pay for it – in a luxurious hotel resort.
Of course, it is like any other “app”. There are pop-up ads for “food”. You have to pay for items in your mini-bar. You only get a choice of four colours for your dining room table runner! Being uploaded, however, ultimately offers its recipients some sense of assurance about life after death.
While the show could be watched simply as a fun whodunnit murder mystery, as the story seeks to discover who murdered the protagonist, digital programmer Nathan Brown, it actually explores some deep questions.
One of underlying critiques is that the wealthy are the only ones who get to experience this afterlife without problems, interference, annoying frustrations, or pop-up food ads. The wealthy can purchase whatever they like, including endangered or extinct animals to feed on, communication back to the real world, and endless upgrades to their accommodation and wardrobe. Wealth is measured not only in cash and assets, but in data. Wealthy families will announce themselves as “unlimited data” families.
The poor on the other hand, can only access 2GB of activity a month. This may mean that they end up “frozen” for much of their time, unable to do more than merely “exist”.
The show is a scathing critique of the consequences of wealth inequality. While those in poverty protest and petition for digital afterlife as a human right, the one man who wants to design a free access afterlife is murdered. His idea and his code threaten a $600 billion dollar empire. The tech corporations are not going to stand by and let people access something for free, when they can make them pay through the nose for the same (or lesser) product. Those who can’t afford it simply die a natural death.
There are those who oppose the digital afterlife. “Luddites” are fighting against “Big Data” and trying to expose how technology is being used to widen the gap between rich and poor. They are attempting to demonstrate how greed and capitalism can enter any sphere of life, including that of death.
Jesus often taught about caring for the poor, alien and outcast. There is a theme of God’s preferential love of the poor throughout Scripture. Conversely, Jesus has some scathing words for the rich and powerful. If a system is exploiting the poor and generating insane wealth for a tiny few, it is a system that Christians should rightfully be questioning and exposing.
A second area that Upload explores is death and the reality that so many people fear it. They want to escape death at all cost. It probes our understanding of the soul. Does it die at upload, because that process actually kills you? Did it go to heaven or hell? Has the soul ceased to exist because one’s consciousness is in another place? Or does the soul come with you to the digital afterlife?
Christian theologians have been discussing this concept for centuries. Scripture does not actually have a great deal to say on the afterlife. There is a sense that there is a place where believers are able to be with God and join in celebratory worship. A place where pain and sorrow have ceased and suffering is no more. A place of God’s perfect presence and merciful love. Hell is far more controversial. It has been argued that it is a place of eternal suffering. It has also been posited as a place where God is absent. Or that hell is not a place but annihilation so that one ceases to exist. This is often understood as the most merciful of the three options.
A third area that Upload explores is the reach and ethical position of Big Data.
One of the digital afterlife locations, Lakeview, is eventually attacked by the Luddites. As a result, the government allows its corporate developer, Horizon, to relax their security and privacy measures in order that residents can be monitored and screened. What is promoted as a safety measure is actually far more nefarious.
Dreams of the Lakeview residents can be downloaded onto YouTube-like channels for anyone to watch. Resident’s thoughts can be heard or read in real time, in order to identify dissidents. Anything that is found is Horizon’s Intellectual Property and, therefore, can be monetised. Privacy is no longer a feature of the Uploaded’s experience or even their right. Everything is fair game for the developer and they continue to grow their bottom line, the bulk of which lines the owner’s pockets.
This is a critique of current activities of Big Data companies who operate without a lot of government regulation. Apps like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and dating apps like Tinder mine your personal details, your search history, your Siri requests, etc. to learn more about you. This is supposedly to improve customer experience. What it can result in is your feeds being populated with unwanted ads and sponsored content. Sometimes that information can be used to on-sell to other organisations or platforms. Sometimes governments want a back door to our information for “security” reasons.
Security concerns have resulted in Australia passing world-first legislation surrounding age restrictions for social media. The goal is that “age-restricted social media platforms will have to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under the age of 16 from creating or keeping an account.” While the government is attempting to protect children and young people from harmful content, which is most definitely accessible on the internet, others warn that there could be unforeseen consequences. Everyone using social media and search engines will have to participate in some kind of age-verification, changing the very way that we use the internet. Digital companies of course do not want this kind of restriction.
This is not the only instance where digital companies are wanting to expand influence without oversight. There is political investigation currently exploring copyright and Artificial Intelligence companies. In August the Productivity Commission floated a text and data mining exception for the Australian Copyright Act, meaning that authors, and potentially other creatives, would not have protection from AI companies using copyrighted material to train their large language platforms (ChatGPT, etc.) or art generating platforms.
Another area of concern is how AI is growing misogyny in the online world. Laura Bates discusses this issue on an episode of ABC’s Ladies We Need to Talk Podcast. One of the biggest concerns is image-based abuse, where perpetrators use AI to create violent and abusive images of partners, exes, and women in general, using deepfakes. These highly realistic images are then circulated online in groups formed especially for the dissemination of this type of imagery. While female content is easily generated, it is very hard to generate realistic male images as there is no demand for it, so the algorithms haven’t learned how to.
While Big Data does not (yet) have the capacity to upload a human consciousness, the above examples are a few ways that digital technology is being used in ways that are not always conducive to human flourishing. At this point, there is a real sense in which Big Data want people to believe that it is just too big, too difficult, and too unwieldy to regulate. As Christians, however, we do need to think through the application of these new technological advancements and have an understanding of how they can affect humanity for good and for ill. It could be very advantageous to use artificial intelligence to help identify cancer early, or calculate the effects of climate change, for example. It is not beneficial when it is used to exploit, bully, or destroy a person’s reputation, livelihood, or humanity. We need helpful and transparent information to be able to make decisions concerning use. We also need policies that protect people while ensuring positive and fair access.
The full series of Upload is avialable to watch on Prime Video with a subscription
