For Episode 7, I am joined by Dr. C. Thi Nguyen to talk about “Playtest” (Season 3, Episode 2), which premiered in 2013 and is the only Black Mirror episode that follows a straightforwardly “horror” format.

Before getting to the Episode 7 notes, I want to announce that BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS now tweets! Please follow @BMR_podcast on Twitter to keep up with all our new episode releases. If you’re enjoying the podcast so far, please also consider making a small donation on Patreon to help us offset the costs of audio editing (and keep BMR ad-free!). Here are more ways to stay connected with us:

Listen/Download BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS podcast episodes 
Subscribe to BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS podcast
Support/Donate to BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS podcast

My special guest for Episode 7 is C. Thi Nguyen (@add_hawk on Twitter), Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah and author of the recently-released Games: Agency as Art (OUP, 2020). Nguyen is an Assistant Editor for the popular philosophy of art blog Aesthetics for Birds and he authored the much-needed and long-overdue “Manifesto for Public Philosophy.” Formerly a food writer for The Los Angeles Times, Nguyen now spends his time writing about trust, art, games, and communities, with a particular focus on how social structures and technologies shape how we think and what we value.


He’s also a helluva lot of fun to talk to.

In our conversation about “Playtest,” Thi and I talk about the difference between games and virtual experiences, the eminent technological singularity, the dangers of corporate-controlled emergent technology, Philip K. Dick, Franz Kafka, Harlan Ellison, and the terrifying possibility of losing control of one’s own mind.

You can listen to our discussion of “Playtest” in its entirety here:

Here at BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS, we assume that everyone is already committed to read more, write more, think more, and be more… so here’s a helpful list of links to thinkers, technologies, books, and articles referenced in this episode:
Comment section open below!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *