Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable Computer

Steve Mann, a professor at the University of Toronto, is the subject of Cyberman (2001), a fascinating film by Peter Lynch. He is also a cyborg, a concept he explains in Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable Computer (Anchor Canada), written with Hal Niedzviecki. After seeing the film and reading the book I’m still not exactly sure what Steve Mann’s technology does, but this is intriguing territory. Since he was a youngster, Mann has been developing a wearable computer. It started as a bulky suit and has evolved into a pair of sleek eyeglasses that mediate his interaction with the world. Mann’s eye becomes a camera and his device feeds the information to his brain, allowing him to filter out unwanted stimuli, broadcast his reality live on the Internet and combine his visual experiences with a host of other information. All very interesting, but less remarkable than Mann’s awareness, as a scientist, that advances in computer technology are being used to control and limit humanity rather than to improve our lives and expand our potential. To this end, he engages in pranks and performance art that probe the meaning of surveillance, agency and the future of our relationship to technology. Cyborg is a great story of technological change and its political context—a rare combination.