At the start of the trailer for Lo and Behold: Reveries Of The Connected World, Werner Herzog's upcoming documentary about the internet, a well-permed news anchor sets up a mental exercise for the audience: Imagine reading your morning newspaper on a computer screen. It's one of those moments that's there to make you think, Haha, look how much we didn't know, which then raises the question, What do we still not know?
"The internet was never designed to be part of the central infrastructure for society," a man in the trailer says over ominous piano music.
Thanks, internet
According to the Sundance film guide, Lo and Behold attempts to create a map of the internet's "intricacies" by documenting the stories of people like "internet pioneers" and "victims of wireless radiation." It seems both optimistic and apocalyptic, kind of like the lure of the connected world.
Lo and Behold premieres on January 23rd at Sundance.