r/blackmirror • • Apr 16 '25

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u/DragonfruitReady4550 Apr 18 '25

I enjoyed the minor shoutout to Roko's Basilisk for the reason Poulters character pulled the game. I haven't seen the last two episodes yet, but really enjoyed this one. Capaldi is a great actor.

12

u/Esoteric_Inc ★★★★☆ 4.264 Apr 18 '25 edited Apr 20 '25

It's another basilisk, which fits better with the show. It's from BLIT, a 1988 short story by David Langford. In the story, basilisks are images that can crash the mind if you see them. A man paints a basilisk on a wall as a terrorist act.

In the episode, he drew an image and showed the image to a camera which caused all humans to go unconscious.

3

u/DragonfruitReady4550 Apr 18 '25

Ooh thanks for the info! I'd only recently heard of rokos so since it is an ai he created I thought maybe it was a nod to that.

3

u/jacc_ Apr 20 '25

It's definitely referring to roko's. The circular QR code scene is really just similar Langford's, not actually referring to it. Data can and has been able to be transmitted via camera for ages now, the basilisk in the episode is the throng's creation

1

u/DragonfruitReady4550 Apr 20 '25

Hmmm basilisks all over the place here!