Earlier today I posted about Amazon's new show about the digital afterlife, Upload. I wasn't initially pleased with the trailer; it felt like it'd be offensive to transhumans like us. But, now that I'm off work for the weekend, I had some time to watch the first couple episodes. I'm no TV critic nor do I want to waste time with a lengthy rant, so I'll cut right to the point with what I was and wasn't pleased with!

What I liked about the show was that it was a refreshingly new perspective on mind uploading. Instead of it taking a black mirror type of digital horror route, it's presented as a comedy. And the jokes weren't really at our expense either! I won't spoil anything, but I WILL say there were some hilarious moments you can't experience in the organic world. The uploading process itself was darkly hilarious too, albeit probably not as realistic.

What I didn't like was that they presented the afterlife as a marketable luxury experience, controlled by corporations and clients with deep pockets. I don't like the idea that employees can view your thoughts, disregard "privacy" settings, and edit your digital body to whatever they feel like. Having a capitalism-driven afterlife where your entire reality is controlled by human greed is... Unsettling, to say the least. The treatment of artificial intelligence entities pissed me off as well.

So while I think management of the digital afterlife is flawed, hey. The show is supposed to be a comedy. From that perspective it's done pretty well, and it's definitely got me hooked without feeling attacked or offended. If you identify as transhuman and watched the show, tell me what you think!