ABSTRACT

In early 1991 filming began on the world’s first ‘virtual reality’ film – the Lawnmower Man. The tale of a simple gardener, transformed by ‘smart drugs’ and virtual reality technology, into a vengeful genius (tagline ‘God made him simple. Science made him a god ’) did not appeal to the public merely in virtue of offering the first ‘virtual sex’ – though that no doubt helped. Nor was it just the special effects. Though they were nice. The film contained a subliminal warning: ‘Here is a modern Frankenstein’ it said, one that was being created under our very noses. And, as usual, it was all the consequence of our meddling with the unknown – this time a hitherto unexplored brave new world called ‘cyberspace’. ‘There be monsters’ was to be inscribed upon its map – a warning to proceed with extreme caution into any world that has such creatures in it.