»stop thinking, read kevin kelly "Out of Control"«

hopefully you've read it. if not, check it out. rumor even has that the W's made keanu read it before the matrix script. if so, its easy to see why.
read the book at

I am not sure to adore these eloquent phrases or rating it just quer. This evolution stuff looks odd, also the apperent machine vs. human conflict. But there is obviously insight when you quoted:

"To be a god, at least to be a creative one, one must relinquish control and embrace uncertainty. Absolute control is absolutely boring. To birth the new, the unexpected, the truly novel-that is, to be genuinely surprised-one must surrender the seat of power to the mob below. "

Anyway, the word 'mob' is quite irritating. Is it just to claim mad thinking poetry?

That link looks like the place to go! With all that it would be 'easy' to make the Matrix, at least in concept.

Wachowski's movie making skills were the next needed ingredient.

i need to buy that book!

Yes you do.
You need the hardcopy version too.

0x587e1a2c wrote:

...rumor even has that the W's made keanu read it before the matrix script.

I mentioned this once, on some other thread, a while back...

It's no rumor; watch The Matrix Revisited DVD. Keanu states explicitly that there were three books Keanu had to read "before I even read the script":

• Simulacra and Simulations by Jean Baudrillard
  
• Out of Control by Kevin Kelly
  
• Introducing Evolutionary Psychology by Dylan Evans, Oscar Zarate (Illustrator), Richard Appignanesi (Editor).

My wife recently ordered Out of Control for me, and I just got it, and have begun reading it.

I'm only a couple of chapters in, and already I can see everything more clearly...! This book is AWESOME.

The 'mob' thing is actually most interesting. You've got to read it, though.... I'm not going to quote it (I don't have time right now) so you'll just have to go find it for yourselves.... And you should. This book is AWESOME!

I heard it was out of print, but I got it from Amazon pretty easily. Even though I've only just started it, I HIGHLY recommend it to all Matrix fans. (Did I mention that this book is AWESOME?)

I now have all three of the aforementioned books -- I'm still working on Baudrillard, as well. (actually, I haven't picked it up in a while.) He's kinda hard to read. But I can see the connections in these books, and it makes for a much richer experience of the Matrix movies! But don't take my word for it. Read them yourself and make up your own damn mind.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled threads, already in progress.

...about Keanu's homework. The evolutionary psychology book has a copyright date of 1999. I thought that was when the movie was released? Surely Keanu had to have read the script before this particular book came out?

Just a semi-random thought. Doesn't really matter anyway; read the book - it's cool.

Yes, annaerullo, I too have now got my hands on that book. And I agree with you 100%- It is AWESOME. I have already began to see the main connections to the Matrix and the common messages. I, too, am not going to quote because I have found so many quotes that make me go- "Whoa, thats Matrix stuff". But I'm still on chapter 4. I also recommend it for any Matrix fan who wants to go deeper down the rabbit hole.

I find it patently ridiculous that they made that unfortunate guy read books like that before starring in what is essentially an action/martial-arts flick.
It must have been so he could get into the subtleties of Neo's character...."That punch you just threw, it was a little too evolutionary and not quite psychological enough."
I would have given him a complete set of Little Nemo and told him, "Dude, you're a chimp dancing in front a bluescreen. Have at it."

Akshat Gupta wrote:

Yes, annaerullo, I too have now got my hands on that book. And I agree with you 100%- It is AWESOME. I have already began to see the main connections to the Matrix and the common messages. I, too, am not going to quote because I have found so many quotes that make me go- "Whoa, thats Matrix stuff". But I'm still on chapter 4. I also recommend it for any Matrix fan who wants to go deeper down the rabbit hole.

Yes you are apsolutly right, when i first read this and i have gone on to read a least three more times. i found the book to very insightful in the relationship between the words that i was reading and the matrix movie.