My catogorical social positioning as ‘dyslexic’, naturally draws me towards Haraway’s optimistic argument. I want to live in a nonlinear world, circling around the fluidity of understanding, rather than a linear world, built with ridged boxes of objectified knowledge. As a cybernetic organism, my spellchecker is an example of a technological gift. It is an artificial extension of my mind, which aids my plight against a linguistically defined binary of order and disorder. However, I wish to perceive and interact with society without my computer. I currently only communicate in a non-linear manner via this interface, that mediates between a cybernetic society and myself. Therefore, I can appreciate Galison’s scepticism and will give it great consideration within my argument. This essay will address the question; is cybernetics a closed system that positions humans as black boxes in an uncontrollable matrix against the will of the universe? Or is it an open system that works in conjunction with universal laws - a system that can assist humans as a means to a better world? To provide metaphor and practical examples to my debate, I will use the iconic figure of Marvel Comic’s Iron Man as a medium for understanding cybernetics relationship to digital cinema.

     The problem with assessing cybernetics relevance to digital cinema is that the cinema is an open environment; films proceed in their narrative and offer no form of interaction or feedback. However, cybernetics relates directly to digital cinema. When participating in the experience of a film such as Iron Man, cybernetics cannot be avoided. Graphic User Interface’s offer portals to this matrix system. A viewer can purchase a number of GUI’s such as DVD’S, comic books, interactive video games as well as access websites. To do this they must actively participate in digital commerce (cash points, chip and pins etc) that are other forms of interface. These mediums are all interfaces in an overall cybernetic system of communication. Our interaction with these interfaces engages us with a global cybernetic mechanism thereby further connecting us to a global cybernetic grid of communication.

     In February 2008, Paramount Pictures released the digital remediation of the 1968 Marvel Sci-Fi comic strip character: “Iron Man.” Stan Lee’s story of Iron Man was developed during the Cold War era. It is story of weapon developer Tony Starks, an MIT graduate and techno scientific genius, whose story echoes many familiarities with the story of Wiener. However, I am interested in the historical development of Iron Man as an iconic Cyborg figure. In particular my essay will focus upon Paramount Picture’s recent introduction of Iron Man’s HUD (Head-up display). This HUD provides a new form of mediation in the era of digital cinema, which indicates exactly how cybernetic technologies are influencing contemporary digital cinema (Ref, Figure 1).

     A GUI (Graphic User Interface) is located inside Starks’ HUD and is connected to Starks’ home laboratory’s mainframe computer base called ‘Jeeves.’ Jeeves can both verbally and visually transmit information to Starks. Visual information is displayed in ‘widgets’. These widgets quickly expand and collapse in an associative manner and according to their relevance. The speed at which Starks can translate this information adds to his overall power in combat– much like a modern fighter pilot equip with HUD would do in combat situations. When watching Iron Man in the cinema, there are points when the audience sees a digital interface between the actors face and themselves (this is the view Tony Sparks has from inside his iron suite.) It creates a direct interaction and understanding derived from digital media rather than a human. Essentially, the interface is the go-between from one human to another as found on the websites Facebook and Myspace. This is similar to the mediator I described when using my computer to spell check and can be a somewhat distant and isolating form of communication. In the film’s plot this interface assists Starks in combat. At the same time, in the cinema, it provides an interface that allows the onlooker to partake in the simulation of this battle of information. Kent Seki from The Orphanage visual effects studio in San Francisco recalls from the questioning process involved design of the GUI action scenes that:

Digital cinema redefines intuition by drawing upon the audience’s prior conventional understanding of GUI’s. This digital effect thereby produces a third virtual dimension of meaning. We find this meaning intuitive because ‘face-to-interface’ interaction has become a cultural requirement for connecting the system of human to the system of cybernetics. Rather than, connecting the system of human directly to the system of humanity.

     This lends to Galison’s somewhat sceptical view of cybernetics.  He argues that cybernetics is based upon a system that binds us together and is constructed out of the evils of war. He discusses Wieners combination of communication theory and the Leibnizian notion (1994, p. 225). Whereby the universe is constructed in single monadic units that predetermine life for humans: ‘like black boxes with inputs and outputs and no access to our or anyone else’s inner life’ (p. 226). Galison uses Wieners own account to describe this notion of a ‘quasi-solipsistic vision of the universe’ (p. 256). Tony Starks embodies all the symptoms of this quasi-solipsisticcybernetic detachment. He works from a laboratory in his mansion. His only interaction is with his secretary and Jeeves his mainframe computer. His communication with the public is through Cyber heroism and media conferences. The digital audience view Tony Stark through his interface. This is a direct example of the isolating and distancing effect of interface communication in cybernetics. Tony Starks is only in the background of the cinema screen. The interface that mediates or is the go between in his and the viewer’s experience is visually significant. It is ‘intuitive’ to the audience because it has become the dominant mode of living in a cybernetic world. Galison’s main aversion to cybernetics as a model for society is Wieners interest in Manichaeism; “…the Manichean sciences would undergrid the cybernetic age” (p. 253). He argues that the theories that cybernetics where born from proceed to dictate how society interacts and uses cybernetics influence in von Neuman’s ‘Game Theory’ as an example of how this is possible (p. 264). If cybernetics is born of an oppositional and war based theory, then we, as products of a cybernetic society, will always be at war with the enemy ‘Other’.

     The cybernetic debate has an underlying and ancient metaphysical aspect. Haraway’s works refer to James Lovelocks ‘Gaian Hypothesis’ which uses Gaia, the Greek mythological goddess and daughter of chaos, as a metaphor for understanding the world (1995, p. xi). This hypothesis illustrates the earth as one entirely self-regulating organism, which is in constant correction of the balance between light and darkness. Manichaeism is based upon dualistic opposition, essentially, one or the other.  Life is a result of the dynamic opposition between light and darkness. Manichaeism is a fundamental belief that has underpinned various ancient religions around the globe (Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism.) There is either good or evil, no grey point in between. Language, as a form of communication, works by solidifying these dualisms into binary opposites.  Haraway says that: ‘Cyborg imagery can suggest a way out of the maze of dualisms in which we have explained our bodies and our tools to ourselves’ (1991, p. 181). She explores the idea of the restricting and binary definitions of Male and Female. Through cybernetics, she argues that we can step away from those predetermined definitions and become a system, that is neither good or bad, light or dark, black or white, male or female. In Haraway’s eyes, this is somewhat of a liberating experience, where we can interact with the world around us without the restrictions our predetermined categories and labels place upon us. This relates to Iron Man as his life, which is greatly improved by technological advancement. He is able to re-define who he his and how he interacts with society through cybernetics. No longer is he the tearaway son of a much-loved billionaire, or the head of a major arms corporation. He has built a suite, literally a new body imitating human biology, based entirely on the laws of cybernetics.  The iron suite allows him to shed his identity completely, not be defined as male or female and allows him the opportunity to explore that which goes beyond the boundaries of how society has defined him. He is liberated to move faster, become stronger and even fly. This is the kind of physical and mental liberation that Haraway says cybernetics can provide, by allowing us to dismantle the boundaries of our binary classifications.

      In conclusion, I would argue that Galison’s pessimism about cybernetics presented in 1994 depict the contemporary state of global affairs. Haraway offers many innovative theories, which can use to look forward to the future, going beyond the boundaries of cyber enslavement. Cybernetics continues permeate in every aspect of our planetary interactions. Black-box nodal forms now dictate our social existence within a cybernetic system. They depend more so upon interface interaction rather than organic face-to-face interaction. Iron Man represents this isolating change in an ideological sense, as a means of self-empowerment. The film also presents the ideology of using visual diagrammatic as a more efficient means of conveying information. As a dyslexic, I can only applaud this shift from linear language to nonlinear visual representations. I hope that society finds this progression liberating and intuitive. However, as the interface as a portal draws ever closer to our physical faces, we start to risk finding ourselves confined in an isolating GUI environment where the interface is the end point not part of the destination. Our liberation from linearity is leading us into a visually dependent ‘platonic cave.’ Knowledge is linear; wisdom and understanding are more abstract and non-linear. Therefore I view this epoch as a transitional stage, a learning process that brings power to newer lateral ways of thinking as opposed to it being the dominant order. The Sci-fi version of Iron Man can be seen as a visual metaphor, providing a newer, harder shell for us to hatch from beyond the boundaries of technological determinism.

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