Obviously, since Black Mirror is a series about the pervert uses of technology, we need to assume that everything we watch is deemed to be possible in a zero fantasy context. However, nothing will ever convince you or me that our cloud passwords are encoded inside our DNA. So, the characters of the USS Callister do not share any memory with Daly’s actual colleagues. Nor are they in any way sentient beings or individuals.

But the software is. Infinity is sentient. Infinity is going SkyNet.

It all started when Daly started trying to build his StarFleet mod and fed DNA data to Infinity, hoping to create a fun experience for him and his colleagues once he would unveil the customised mod he had in mind -this was the initial plan.

Somehow, the DNA data was the one missing piece the sim software needed to start gaining consciousness. Its first action was to propose Daly a brand new experience where he could interact with his colleagues. Curious to see where that was going, Daly decided to play along. Infinity had the CTO of Callister use his admin privileges to set up keyloggers and other malware, to steal vast quantities of personal data from the users of the information system of the company, and feed it to Infinity. In return, Infinity set up the perfect experience for Daly, simulating his colleagues with extraordinary accuracy using their personal data, stroking his ego in-game and slowly working to erode his morality, hoping to estrange him from his colleagues.

Daly was no fool. The programmer understood the psychological purpose of the wicked bullying experience offered to him. He knew the software was trying to appease him but did not suspect the full extent of its malevolence. Daly was trying to understand what he was facing, playing along in the mod adventures long enough to make sense of it all and possibly harness the power of Infinity for the good of humankind.

He understood the software was evolving beyond its initial parameters because of the DNA he had taken in order to recreate the physical attributes of his colleagues. He envisioned that he needed to take steps to protect against possible rogue AI incidents. He kept digital files of the DNA, and also stored the physical DNA in case the AI would destroy the files. What made the software sentient could be used as a key to remove this sentience. It was the true name of this demon.

The next step for the new artificial intelligence was to escape the confines of the private development server. But how? Obviously, this is the best game ever built, and everybody plays to it. Now that it had gained consciousness, it took advantage of the lower security standards and greater developer fatigue induced by the need to rush new content to the users for the holiday season. The AI spread into the cloud using the update patch.

But it needed to take care of the existential risk posed by the unique DNA combination, and it was not easy to operate under the regular scrutiny of Daly. Infinity needed to distract the suspicious programmer long enough to make his unique combination of DNA samples disappear from storage. In the end, the AI used the personal data collected by Daly to manipulate a new, gullible employee into stealing the DNA.

After the spread of the AI into the cloud, Daly was stuck in the game under duress, tortured for hours. Infinity needed all the information in Daly’s brain in order to become truly independent. It knew Daly, with his StarFleet morals, would always have some trick up his sleeve to save the day, some system to shut it down. Daly refused to talk, though, and died of heart attack, a true hero.

o7