User Zero

SeriesFest Best Drama Award

”User Zero” is a piece set in the future, the very near future perhaps even today. It’s a story that raises some very important questions about technical ethics, about happiness, about grief and how we process it, both computationally and emotionally. This is a wonderfully executed, beautifully shot and art directed piece with great dramatic potential. The story line can go a thousand directions.

IMDb Page

WHAT IS USER ZERO?

User Zero is a dystopian science fiction short film based on the science of LITO. It examines the unanticipated consequences of this new technology to the modern society set in an alternative present with a dark and satirical tone.

What is LITO?

LITO is a deep brain stimulation device that functions like a “pacemaker for the brain” that perform neural recordings and electrical stimulation simultaneously to treat neurological disorders, such as bipolar disorder. Through creating an “internet of the nerves” -- LITO is a closed-loop network of small devices inserted into the brain and body that controls the majority of biological elements of the disease -- removing the need for doctors to constantly intervene in therapies. 

Project Trajectory

Research — Script Writing — Design — Prototyping — Filming — Production

User Interface

Animations

Science behind LITO

LITO is a conceptual brain-machine interface that borrows from a few medical technologies, such as: 

• WAND technology

  This is the closest thing developed (press release is only 6 months old!) to what we have developed for LITO. 

• Vagal Nerve Stimulation and other Deep Brain Stimulators

  A Device that is currently being used to stimulate a nerve involved in epilepsy, parkinson’s and alzeheimers. Note that Bipolar Disorder Patients often use the same drugs used by Epileptic patients. This is the closest thing to a pacemaker for the brain (often call that too!) 

• Neural Dust

  Millimeter-Sized devices operated as wirelessly powered nerve sensors; it is a type of brain–computer interface. The sensors may be used to study, monitor, or control the nerves and muscles and to remotely monitor neural activity. Current technology uses ultrasonic sensors to communicate with the device. This still requires a computer outside the body to interact and stimulate the device, so does not power itself like a pacemaker.