As no wireless transmissions are allowed within a 10-mile radius around the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, Herzog travels there to interview the local residents. He finds a group of people afflicted by an electromagnetism sensitivity condition who claim to have found relief from their symptoms after settling near the telescope.
Elon Musk and his quest to send humans to Mars are investigated. Artificial intelligence is touched upon, and the film considers whether robots might become replacements for human interaction in the future. At the end of the film, Herzog asks multiple interviewees: "Can the Internet dream of itself?"
Themes
When asked by TechCrunch what effect he hoped the film would have on the audience, Herzog replied:
I think we have to abandon this kind of false security that everything is settled now, that we have so much assistance by digital media and robots and artificial intelligence. At the same time, we overlook how vulnerable all this is, and how we are losing the essentials that make us human.[8]
Reception
Lo and Behold received generally favorable reviews from critics.[9] On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 92% of 144 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10; the site's "critics consensus" reads: "Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World finds Werner Herzog bringing his distinctive documentarian gifts to bear on a timely topic with typically thought-provoking results."[10] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[9]