{"id":2041,"date":"2016-04-03T17:19:24","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T11:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/altered-carbon-review-netflix-immortality-humanity\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T19:53:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T14:23:05","slug":"altered-carbon-review-netflix-immortality-humanity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=2041","title":{"rendered":"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A<\/span><\/p><\/div>

t first pass, <\/span>Altered Carbon<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Netflix\u2019s<\/span><\/a> latest entrant into the cyberpunk dystopian sci-fi genre looks a lot like an expensive but modest replica of <\/span>Ridley Scott\u2019s<\/span><\/a> Blade Runner<\/span><\/i>. But, dig deeper \u2013 ten, hour-long episodes to be precise \u2013 and the show is revealed as a clever commentary on the dystopia we could be inhabiting in the foreseeable future, touching on many fascinating issues: classism, income inequality, the nature of identity and the anxieties that accompany a digitised soul. <\/span>\n\nCreated by Laeta Kalogridis, <\/span>Altered Carbon<\/span><\/i>, is also Netflix\u2019s most expensive show run solely by a woman. Amid the vast and violent neon-lit science-fiction heavy world that <\/span>Altered Carbon<\/span><\/i> builds, lies the oldest storyline on the planet: a murder mystery. Except, it\u2019s so much more. <\/span>\n\nAltered Carbon <\/span><\/i>is what happens when <\/span>Black Mirror<\/span><\/i> <\/a>comes to life; building a gripping world that\u2019s as perverse as it is technologically drunk, forcing us to contemplate the very idea of what makes us human. The heart of the narrative is the show\u2019s insistence on questioning the level to which an individual\u2019s morality rests on him achieving his permanent end. Would his morality still be intact if death was to be a mere detour in a long immortal life where he could get away with anything?<\/span>\n\nThe show is set in a futuristic version of San Francisco called Bay City in the 25th century, where <\/span>technology<\/span><\/a> has enabled an official form of immortality. <\/span>Death<\/span><\/a> is a thing of the past; people here get \u201cresleeved\u201d into another body after they die, and the alien technology allows them to store their consciousness in little disc-like \u201cstacks\u201d that are then inserted into their necks. As long as your stack is intact, it doesn\u2019t matter how many times you\u2019ve dropped dead or how gruesome that encounter might have been. <\/span>\n\n\"Altered\n

\n

Created by Laeta Kalogridis, Altered Carbon, is Netflix\u2019s most expensive show run solely by a woman.<\/p>\n

Image credit: Netflix<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nWhile it may present a world that\u2019s post-racial, considering how the embrace of immortality has ensured that its individuals escape the idea of identity, class inequality unfortunately still reigns supreme. The rich and powerful, called the \u201cMeths\u201d (named after the Biblical figure Methuselah who is said to have lived 969 years) are the ones who live in mansions in the sky, above the masses living in suffocating chambers made out of shipping containers down below. While they\u2019re perennially shrouded in darkness, the wealthy have the gift of natural sunlight.<\/span>\n\nThe Meths have also found a way to monopolise the business of immortality. The cost of \u201cresleeving\u201d i.e., removing your stack and placing it in a body of your choice is considerable. In the show, a murdered seven-year-old girl is resleeved into the body of a middle-aged woman leaving her parents with two choices: either buy her a sleeve of their choice or put her to sleep forever. <\/span>\n\nDrunk on their immortality, the Meths make a game out of watching violent fights between poorer humans, rewarding the winner with an upgraded sleeve. The extent of human cruelty is explored to the hilt in the show, replete with <\/span>VR<\/span><\/a> torture chambers, gory shootouts, and graphic torture aided by cheap violence. All these ideas, are naturally part of the larger question running through the show: What happens when you turn a human body into a literal commodity? What happens when death becomes the economy? <\/span>\n\n

Altered Carbon is what happens when Black Mirror comes to life; building a gripping world that\u2019s as perverse as it is technologically drunk.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nBesides being a superlative science-fiction show that goads introspection of our present, <\/span>Altered Carbon<\/span><\/i> is also possibly the most woke show we\u2019ve seen in recent times. In the show, humans are shown to have broken down barriers of race, gender, and language; the narrative is comfortably multilingual as its characters are multi-ethnic. Takeshi Kovacs, the show\u2019s lead, shifts between two bodies: He\u2019s half-Slavic, half-Japanese but wakes up in a body of a white man almost a quarter millennium after being in cold storage. He is also surrounded by a diverse cast that includes Kristin Ortega, a Mexican police officer with a Muslim partner, and Kovacs\u2019 former partner, a Black Envoy leader called Quell Falconer. <\/span>\n\nFor a sci-fi show with generous doses of technological interferences, (the sex here is obviously chemically enhanced), <\/span>Altered Carbon<\/span><\/i> ends up being a much-needed meditation on the cost of humanity. Now if only, that brought about some change in the dystopia we currently live in.<\/span>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the surface, Altered Carbon, Netflix’s latest cyberpunk dystopian drama is a technologically drunk science-fiction show but its heart lies in being an effective meditation on the cost of humanity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":2044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[4113,4114,1508,4115,4116,4117,4118,4119,4120,1341,4121,4122,4123],"class_list":["post-2041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-altered-carbon","tag-altered-carbon-review","tag-black-mirror","tag-blade-runner","tag-humanity","tag-immortality","tag-laeta-kalogridis","tag-matrix","tag-meths","tag-netflix","tag-resellved","tag-science-fiction","tag-takeshi-kovacs"],"yoast_head":"\nAltered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On the surface, Altered Carbon, Netflix's latest cyberpunk dystopian drama is a technologically drunk science-fiction show but its heart lies in being an effective meditation on the cost of humanity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the surface, Altered Carbon, Netflix's latest cyberpunk dystopian drama is a technologically drunk science-fiction show but its heart lies in being an effective meditation on the cost of humanity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-03T11:49:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T14:23:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1517911842.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Poulomi Das\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"On the surface, Altered Carbon, Netflix's latest cyberpunk dystopian drama is a technologically drunk science-fiction show but its heart lies in being an effective meditation on the cost of humanity.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Poulomi Das\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Poulomi Das\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679\"},\"headline\":\"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-03T11:49:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T14:23:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041\"},\"wordCount\":765,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1517911842.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Altered Carbon\",\"Altered Carbon Review\",\"Black Mirror\",\"Blade Runner\",\"humanity\",\"immortality\",\"Laeta Kalogridis\",\"Matrix\",\"meths\",\"Netflix\",\"resellved\",\"Science Fiction\",\"Takeshi Kovacs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Pop Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041\",\"name\":\"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1517911842.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-03T11:49:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-17T14:23:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679\"},\"description\":\"On the surface, Altered Carbon, Netflix's latest cyberpunk dystopian drama is a technologically drunk science-fiction show but its heart lies in being an effective meditation on the cost of humanity.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1517911842.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1517911842.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=2041#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679\",\"name\":\"Poulomi Das\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Poulomi Das\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.207.105.184\\\/?author=103\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human","description":"On the surface, Altered Carbon, Netflix's latest cyberpunk dystopian drama is a technologically drunk science-fiction show but its heart lies in being an effective meditation on the cost of humanity.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human","og_description":"On the surface, Altered Carbon, Netflix's latest cyberpunk dystopian drama is a technologically drunk science-fiction show but its heart lies in being an effective meditation on the cost of humanity.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-04-03T11:49:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-17T14:23:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1517911842.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Poulomi Das","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human","twitter_description":"On the surface, Altered Carbon, Netflix's latest cyberpunk dystopian drama is a technologically drunk science-fiction show but its heart lies in being an effective meditation on the cost of humanity.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Poulomi Das","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041"},"author":{"name":"Poulomi Das","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679"},"headline":"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human","datePublished":"2016-04-03T11:49:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T14:23:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041"},"wordCount":765,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1517911842.jpg","keywords":["Altered Carbon","Altered Carbon Review","Black Mirror","Blade Runner","humanity","immortality","Laeta Kalogridis","Matrix","meths","Netflix","resellved","Science Fiction","Takeshi Kovacs"],"articleSection":["Pop Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041","name":"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1517911842.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-03T11:49:24+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-17T14:23:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679"},"description":"On the surface, Altered Carbon, Netflix's latest cyberpunk dystopian drama is a technologically drunk science-fiction show but its heart lies in being an effective meditation on the cost of humanity.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1517911842.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1517911842.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=2041#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Altered Carbon Reminds Us of What Makes Us Human"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/7cc6b159b4669ddf75eae5f2b536d679","name":"Poulomi Das","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cf0b507b562a532eccd19be07aac58ddce2a6079eb4ea28e6afef54b07f4cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Poulomi Das"},"url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?author=103"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1517911842.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2043,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2041\/revisions\/2043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}