'Upload' explores a quasi-dystopian future where people who expect to die soon can choose to upload their consciousness into a virtual world where they can, in theory, live forever in a perfect digital world. After the protagonist Nathan, a young idealistic programmer and entrepreneur, is badly injured in a suspicious car crash he reluctantly gives in to the wishes of his overbearing girlfriend to sign a contract that moves him into 'Lakeview', one of the more upper crust virtual worlds. After Nathan wakes up in his new reality, however, he quickly discovers that the world is more slick corporate brochure ideal than actual experience ideal.
For example, although the monthly "housing" fee comes with a roster of included perks, Nathan quickly discovers that the virtual experience is built with a nearly endless onslaught of opportunities for convenience charges like expensive virtual food in your rooms minibar, ad bots constantly trying to sell you gum and other impulse purchases, virtual clothing, and expensive equipment for leisure activities. In fact, if you are observant you quickly realize that the virtual world is carefully constructed so that residents have little choice but to either spend money or sit around in absolute boredom.
This is a depressingly accurate depiction of the so-called "freemium" model that has dominated gaming over the last decade, particularly mobile gaming, where designers will go so far as to introduce "frustration events"; artificially created obstacles designed to interfere with a user's experience during key moments that can be circumvented with an in-app purchase. A dated but excellent example would be the game 'Candy Crush', which has been broken down by analysts to show that the game presents the illusion of skill-based game play but actually operates much closer to a slot machine.
Nathan's experience is further diminished by his girlfriend Ingrid, who refuses to give him her account password, required for any in-world purchases, opting instead to forward all of his purchase requests to her so that she can "feel closer to him" by monitoring his every activity. Since her family account also pays his virtual rent, she also wields an ominous power over his very existence, which she is not shy about reminding him whenever he seems on the verge of refusing one of her requests.
As if all of that wasn't bad enough, residents of the virtual world suffer further indignities they may not even be aware of. Privacy, for example, is shown to be non-existent as 'Lakeview' employees can and frequently do observe residents without their knowledge whenever they please for reasons as benign as checking up on a residents mental health to simple entertainment or for free adult entertainment, with the resident's "privacy mode" having no impact on this ability whatsoever. Even the resident's minds are fair game, with 'Lakeview' employees having the ability to force residents to sleep, shuffle through and add or remove memories, or suspend their mind altogether if, for example, a resident has insufficient funds to pay for the higher "unlimited data" package.
Conditions are so poor that the virtual world routinely has a 40%+ "rejection rate", which amounts to residents committing suicide, something that the company is desperate to avoid until it has extracted the last of a resident's funds. In other words, conditions can be made tolerable for those with enough money, but when the funds run out the company has the ability to drop a resident into a hellish version of the virtual world where every comfort, even those that cost the company nothing to maintain like the view from your window, are removed. Anyone who has had a family member in a nursing home will be unable to miss the parallels, as nursing home chains utilize a similar model between medicare and medicaid facilities.
Perhaps the one bright spot in Nathan's life is Nora, an "angel", the company term for customer service reps, whom he befriends. Nora inducts Nathan into the virtual world and takes a deeper interest in him after she talks him out of committing suicide shortly after arriving at 'Lakeview'. Nora and Nathan bond over their general distaste for the unfairness of the world, real and virtual, and the tendency of the modern digital world to encourage short, artificial interactions between people.
The show is a comedy and the humor, though frequently dark, usually hits the mark. Unfortunately, for me it might have hit the mark a little too well. The first few times they made jokes about in-app purchases or lack of privacy I laughed, but as the show wore on it started to feel distressingly authentic. Some of the technologies, like scanning a human brain to make a digital copy, are pure fantasy. But much of the technology in the show is well thought out, so that it feels like an organic advancement of today's technology. But that authentic feeling started feeling claustrophobic as time went on, painting a picture of the future that was at once alien and familiar, and not at all happy.
The wonders of the Internet and the digital age have brought us amazing conveniences, but the ruthless efficiency of Silicon Valley style commerce feels very much like it could create this dystopian world of tomorrow where relationships are arranged by apps and our social lives are rated on a one to five star system. Where amazing virtual reality systems allow us to step inside our favorite movies and books but also also bring us work environments that utilize eye tracking cameras to alert management when our attention isn't focused on our work. And where the entertainment distractions we desperately need to avoid dwelling on our worsening living conditions are riddled with opportunistic barriers to enjoyment until we fork over additional funds.
For example, although the monthly "housing" fee comes with a roster of included perks, Nathan quickly discovers that the virtual experience is built with a nearly endless onslaught of opportunities for convenience charges like expensive virtual food in your rooms minibar, ad bots constantly trying to sell you gum and other impulse purchases, virtual clothing, and expensive equipment for leisure activities. In fact, if you are observant you quickly realize that the virtual world is carefully constructed so that residents have little choice but to either spend money or sit around in absolute boredom.
This is a depressingly accurate depiction of the so-called "freemium" model that has dominated gaming over the last decade, particularly mobile gaming, where designers will go so far as to introduce "frustration events"; artificially created obstacles designed to interfere with a user's experience during key moments that can be circumvented with an in-app purchase. A dated but excellent example would be the game 'Candy Crush', which has been broken down by analysts to show that the game presents the illusion of skill-based game play but actually operates much closer to a slot machine.
Nathan's experience is further diminished by his girlfriend Ingrid, who refuses to give him her account password, required for any in-world purchases, opting instead to forward all of his purchase requests to her so that she can "feel closer to him" by monitoring his every activity. Since her family account also pays his virtual rent, she also wields an ominous power over his very existence, which she is not shy about reminding him whenever he seems on the verge of refusing one of her requests.
As if all of that wasn't bad enough, residents of the virtual world suffer further indignities they may not even be aware of. Privacy, for example, is shown to be non-existent as 'Lakeview' employees can and frequently do observe residents without their knowledge whenever they please for reasons as benign as checking up on a residents mental health to simple entertainment or for free adult entertainment, with the resident's "privacy mode" having no impact on this ability whatsoever. Even the resident's minds are fair game, with 'Lakeview' employees having the ability to force residents to sleep, shuffle through and add or remove memories, or suspend their mind altogether if, for example, a resident has insufficient funds to pay for the higher "unlimited data" package.
Conditions are so poor that the virtual world routinely has a 40%+ "rejection rate", which amounts to residents committing suicide, something that the company is desperate to avoid until it has extracted the last of a resident's funds. In other words, conditions can be made tolerable for those with enough money, but when the funds run out the company has the ability to drop a resident into a hellish version of the virtual world where every comfort, even those that cost the company nothing to maintain like the view from your window, are removed. Anyone who has had a family member in a nursing home will be unable to miss the parallels, as nursing home chains utilize a similar model between medicare and medicaid facilities.
Perhaps the one bright spot in Nathan's life is Nora, an "angel", the company term for customer service reps, whom he befriends. Nora inducts Nathan into the virtual world and takes a deeper interest in him after she talks him out of committing suicide shortly after arriving at 'Lakeview'. Nora and Nathan bond over their general distaste for the unfairness of the world, real and virtual, and the tendency of the modern digital world to encourage short, artificial interactions between people.
The show is a comedy and the humor, though frequently dark, usually hits the mark. Unfortunately, for me it might have hit the mark a little too well. The first few times they made jokes about in-app purchases or lack of privacy I laughed, but as the show wore on it started to feel distressingly authentic. Some of the technologies, like scanning a human brain to make a digital copy, are pure fantasy. But much of the technology in the show is well thought out, so that it feels like an organic advancement of today's technology. But that authentic feeling started feeling claustrophobic as time went on, painting a picture of the future that was at once alien and familiar, and not at all happy.
The wonders of the Internet and the digital age have brought us amazing conveniences, but the ruthless efficiency of Silicon Valley style commerce feels very much like it could create this dystopian world of tomorrow where relationships are arranged by apps and our social lives are rated on a one to five star system. Where amazing virtual reality systems allow us to step inside our favorite movies and books but also also bring us work environments that utilize eye tracking cameras to alert management when our attention isn't focused on our work. And where the entertainment distractions we desperately need to avoid dwelling on our worsening living conditions are riddled with opportunistic barriers to enjoyment until we fork over additional funds.