The document explores the evolution of wearable technologies in science fiction cinema, linking it to themes of communication and the changing nature of humanity. It contrasts past technological optimism with contemporary views that emphasize the pervasive, intimate integration of technology into human life. Through references to biblical narratives and modern examples, it highlights the complexities and ethical dilemmas posed by advancements such as brain-computer interfaces and genetic modification.

1. From Robot Suits to Celebrity Coldsores:
Wearable Technologies in SF Cinema*
mark.bould@
gmail.com
* and some comics

3. Genesis 2: 25 and 3:6
Adam and his wife were
both naked, and they
felt no shame. … When
the woman saw that the
fruit of the tree was
good for food and
pleasing to the eye, and
also desirable for
gaining wisdom, she
took some and ate it.
She also gave some to
her husband, who was
with her, and he ate it.

4. Genesis 3: 7-10 Then the eyes of
both of them were opened, and they
realised that they were naked; so
they sewed fig leaves together and
made coverings for themselves. Then
the man and his wife heard the
sound of the Lord God as he was
walking in the garden in the cool of
the day, and they hid from the Lord
God among the trees of the garden.
But the Lord God called to the man,
‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I
heard you in the garden, and I was
afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’

5. Genesis 3: 21-23
God made garments of
skin for Adam and his
wife and clothed them
[and] banished them
from the Garden of Eden.

6. In Christian mythology, the first
technology is a wearable technology
It is a practical technology, designed to
do something

7. but simultaneously and equally, in
Christian mythology, this first
(wearable) technology is a semiotic
technology
it is a way of communicating meaning

8. The heart-rending story of my Public Enemy t-shirt

9. J Michael Stracynski talks about a letter
he received early in Babylon 5’s run:
I try to like the show, but it keeps
breaking my sense of reality every time
someone uses one of those hand-links,
when it’s been established that in the
future chest-communicator pins will be
the accepted technology

15. Science fiction – at least according to its
official dogma – has always been about the
impact of technology. But times have
changed since the comfortable era of Hugo
Gernsback, when Science was safely
enshrined – and confined – in an ivory
tower. The careless technophilia of those
days belongs to a vanished, sluggish era,
when authority still had a comfortable
margin of control.

16. For the cyberpunks, by stark contrast,
technology is visceral. It is not the bottled
genie of remote Big Science boffins; it is
pervasive, utterly intimate. Not outside us,
but next to us. Under our skin; often, inside
our minds. Technology itself has changed.
Not for us the giant steam-snorting
wonders of the past: the Hoover Dam, the
Empire State Building, the nuclear power
plant.

17. Eighties tech sticks to the skin,
responds to the touch: prosthetic
limbs, implanted circuitry, cosmetic
surgery, genetic alteration. The even
more powerful theme of mind
invasion: brain-computer interfaces,
artificial intelligence, neurochemistry –
techniques radically redefining – the
nature of humanity, the nature of the
self.

18. Minority Report - before and after eye transplant

21. Tetsuo: Iron Man teaches us:
Don’t try it at home…

22. …because once you start, you have no idea how it
might end

23. Just because you can wear it, doesn’t mean you should