Cyborg: A Documentary – Watch the trailer for the film about the World’s First Cyborg
Neil Harbisson wants to convince the world that technological enhancement of our senses is a force for good. From birth only able to see in black and white, Neil yearned from a young age to experience how others feel the emotive power of colour. When he was 21 he had an ‘eyeborg’ antenna permanently implanted in his skull that translates colour waves intosound frequencies. Neil’s childhood friend, Moon Ribas, has collaborated with Neil on his journey. Moon, a dancer and choreographer, has had subcutaneous implants in her arm and foot, allowing her to perceive (as vibrations) earthquakes fromall over the planet. Together they have established the Cyborg Foundation, promoting the creation of new technological senses, and the Transpecies Society, which gives voice to non-human identities and defends the freedom of self-design.
Neil and Moon confront their detractors head on, communicating their controversial ideas about the technological future of humankind. They have a significant online and media presence with many followers worldwide. The number of humans becoming ‘cyborgs’ is growing year on year. Our species is on the verge of being able to design and re-design itself at will. As Neil says, “This is happening!” Is the world ready to listen?
Cyborg: A Documentary will be in UK Cinemas from 20th September.
Director Carey Born had this to say about the project.
There is drama in his story too. On his journey to becoming technologically enhanced, Neil has faced considerable physical and psychological pain, and as his fame grows and he continues to assume aleadership role in the cyborg community, it increasingly places him in thecross hairs of critics and, most dangerously, religious zealots. His is alsothe story of human evolution – a topic rife with conflict.
Nevertheless, Neil and his cyborg partner Moon both exhibita reluctance to be swayed by fear or negativity absorbed from our sci-ficultural inheritance. To counterbalance their attitude, and create a context for their cyborg story in terms of past and present, archive references are interwoven amongst the filmed footage.
By relating their personal stories and linking them to the bigger picture, the film is intimate in its storytelling but epic in the ideas it raises. It examines the ways in which cutting-edge technology can be used to make us feel more connected to others, how it can amplify our idiosyncrasies and enrich our perception and perspective on the world.
But it also addresses the ways in which Neil’s and Moon’s actions and mission are deeply challenging and controversial. Anchored in the debate about what makes us human, the film poses the most pertinent questions of our time about the enhancement capabilities that are opening up for our species and the human agendas that will drive them forward.
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