Cyberman

Steve Mann is the world’s first cyborg, half man, half computer. With his homebuilt computer of own design, he interprets and manipulates the reality that he registers with a camera mounted on his glasses. He is also logged on to the Internet, so that everybody can see the world through his eyes. One of the things he saw was how documentary filmmaker Peter Lynch filmed hím. Lynch followed the brilliant scientist cum artist/inventor on his mission to identify technological and ethical limits. Mann uses his inventions as a weapon against the manipulation by multinationals and mass media, both on a micro and macro level. He calls into question apparently self-evident matters such as the prohibition to film in a store that has security cameras on the wall, but also addresses large scientific audiences at seminars. Peter Lynch mixed his 16mm footage with shots and photo material generated by Mann and his wife Betty, who is also equipped with a camera prosthesis. It regularly makes the spectator wonder through whose eyes reality is being shown. A split screen presentation of both Lynch’s and Mann’s shots of the scientist walking through a university, shows the extent to which viewpoints may differ. CYBERMAN is an intriguing and fascinating portrait of a controversial and keen techno-genius, who without his technological armour turns out to be both vulnerable and human.