»Dancing with the Truth – Civilization and The Matrix«

I though I’d spend a few minutes stepping you through some of my thoughts on the Matrix films and seeing what you think. Perhaps in time I can upload my entire reasoning, but we can make a start here.

1) The Matrix films uses metaphors and analogies to point back to the real world we live in and fundamentals of human behavior. They do not try to emulate the physical reality of the future, though their barren world does represent a possible future if we do not change our ways.

This statement may end up being controversial, but you really limit yourself by trying to understand “why didn’t the robots fly into space and make space mirrors to get energy?” or other forms of nonsense. The “energy theory” has no physical plausibility, it simply serves as a nice metaphor. The original idea involved having the human mind running the Matrix like a giant computer, but that ended up being to complicated for most people. So we got the lesser metaphor, the battery one.

Likewise, trying to decide if the “real” exists as a “matrix in a matrix” won’t help either. However, proving this will take more time than I wish to spend on this post. I’ll come back to this. Several of you already see the reasons for it, as I have seen. I don’t want to discourage discussion however. So theories about whatever you want to. But if you really want to understand the Matrix Trilogy, you’ll have to move beyond the direct analogies and move to the more complicated ones that the movies actually deal with.

I want you to understand that the Matrix Trilogy serves as a FINGER pointing to the MOON, to borrow a Zen phrase. It doesn’t map perfectly, it has flaws and warts, but if you follow the path, it can lead you to real insight. By obsessing with the FINGER, you miss the MOON.

2) You already live in a “matrix” and the movies want to show this to you. You call that matrix your “perceptions.” You cannot see the world. You cannot touch the world. The YOU, as a reasoning mind, never deals with the real world. You only deal with neural inputs and their manipulations. “YOU” have no difference than a running program, other than the massive complexity the human brain can hold compared to modern computers.

This one also seems hard for most people to understand. Our society has trained us to constantly identify with our perceptions. But the perceptions and the thing perceived have no connection. Human consciousness comes from the reflected perceptions, and hence can never deal with the thing perceived. Again, to many this seems obvious, but I will expand upon it during the thread and in later posts for those who want more insight.

3) The “matrix” of the real world goes by another name, civilization.

If you notice, Smith says that the Matrix in the movie was a perfect copy of “your civilization.” He then goes on to condemn humans as an endlessly multiplying virus. Of course, not all humans have done this. So the real question becomes, WHY do civilized people endlessly multiply and destroy their environment? The answer comes from people being “stuck” inside civilization just like they are “stuck” inside the Matrix.

Why are they stuck?
Because people inside civilization believe the following things:
1) The world was made for man and man was made to rule it and derive pleasure from it.
2) Endlessly growing more food to feed our growing population is required due to the first rule.
3) Civilization is the TRUE way to live and ALL other people must live this way or be killed.

By becoming aware of those rules, you find them endlessly repeated everywhere in our culture, no matter where you live. You’ll hear them in your own thoughts. You’ll see friends and family members espouse the virtue of these rules.

But they are obviously absurd. They lead to the death of all life on earth, including human life, because life does not live by eating itself endlessly. We require the ecosystem to survive. Endlessly eating it kills our life support system. This is why the world of the future has no life on it. The sky has been raped, the world hollowed out, and all life dead with only robots running free. But those with eyes see it already in our world today.

If you don’t believe this, turn on your TV. Listen to the news. Talk with friends and family members. Once you look for this message, you’ll see it underneath everything. Civilization requires these myths to keep people from leaving it. To break free of the Matrix you must first realize what mental thoughts keep it running in your mind, at least at an outer level.

Welcome to the Matrix. You have been plugged in. You go to a job. You further the “endless growth”. You buy things. The TV calls you a consumer. You cannot escape. Civilization is everywhere. You cannot run. They will find you and make you pay them. You cannot fight. They have airships, machine guns, and nukes. You are between a tiger and a lion in the middle of the most dangerous jungle. And the worst part is, you think you know what to do, that you are not in a jungle, that no lion wants to eat you, that no tiger will claw you.

“The matrix is the wool pulled before our eyes.”

Good luck friends!

I enjoyed reading that!

Finally someone really understands what the films are about.

But since most posters here only look at The Matrix from a technical standpoint, I say "good luck with that".

n-tell
Broadcasting from the Entropical Paradise

intell wrote:

Finally someone really understands what the films are about. But since most posters here only look at The Matrix from a technical standpoint, I say "good luck with that". n-tell

Entropyfails freed his mind and saw the light! lol I too am glad he understands what the movies are about. The Matrix is like the Bible...you read it once and understand nothing much. You read it twice and study it alot and you learn more and notice things you did not see before...same with the Matrix. Only until you watch the movies for the hundreth time and talk about it on the forums do you realize what is going on.

intell wrote:

Finally someone really understands what the films are about. But since most posters here only look at The Matrix from a technical standpoint, I say "good luck with that". n-tell Broadcasting from the Entropical Paradise

*laugh*

Yeah. People continue to use the same tired old thinking, even when probed into greater understanding by art, philosophy, or free thinking. Helping them gets you no thanks. However, I feel that we must do this work because the alternative means the death of most life on this planet. I cannot allow that to happen.

The “Smiths” have become stronger in recent years. They infect others with their reckless ways. We need to counter it or we can never get the controllers of the matrix to understand why they need to stop killing the Zionists and how that ties into controlling the Smiths. The Matrix movies touched people on this site. It stands to reason that they can continue the real search and come to an even deeper understanding of the films and their lives. I believe that if we work hard enough, we can make this change. And Morpheus said that if we fail, “Then tomorrow we’ll all be dead. But how is that different than any other day?”

AgentDragon wrote:

Entropyfails freed his mind and saw the light! lol I too am glad he understands what the movies are about. The Matrix is like the Bible...you read it once and understand nothing much. You read it twice and study it alot and you learn more and notice things you did not see before...same with the Matrix. Only until you watch the movies for the hundreth time and talk about it on the forums do you realize what is going on.

And when you move beyond that stage you will realize that you can NEVER fully understand everything. But hopefully we all can start the journey because failing to do so will harm so many people, plants, and animals. No definitive truth can exist inside our minds. Truth comes from reality, which we map imperfectly with our minds. Our mental matrix can never understand the real. Continue to search and bring light to others and know the price of failure will mean your death. But if you truly commit yourself to wisdom, then you find a reward greater than all the money in this world can provide.

Quote:

The Matrix movies touched people on this site. It stands to reason that they can continue the real search and come to an even deeper understanding of the films and their lives. I believe that if we work hard enough, we can make this change. And Morpheus said that if we fail, “Then tomorrow we’ll all be dead. But how is that different than any other day?”

My name is Intell. So I'm with you all the way to this purpose.

(previously posted)

The culture you are born into is a socialpsychological MATRIX. It is a way of thinking and limits your perspective of reality. The very words we use are an integral part of the culture. It is the Whorf hypothesis.

intell wrote:

My name is Intell. So I'm with you all the way to this purpose.

You have eyes that see Intell. Kudos!

We may have to end up dealing with how The Matrix got made into a major motion picture. The source doesn’t seem very trustworthy due to the dollars involved. Tying into the whole “Sophie” madness, I smell something but cannot put my finger on it. Any theories?

Regardless, the W bros did get it made and we can use it to free minds. Perhaps Zion gets lucky every once in a while. *grin*

psikeyhackr wrote:

The culture you are born into is a socialpsychological MATRIX. It is a way of thinking and limits your perspective of reality. The very words we use are an integral part of the culture. It is the Whorf hypothesis.

Exactly. The Matrix of the real uses memes as its baseline software. I have listed the fundamental memes but many others bizarre ones also exist, like our country borders. And these memes go all the way down.

Try to look at a lamp without seeing “a lamp.” No amount of effort will make it happen. So in that sense, we have no choice. Summing up all of the varied experiences and cultural inputs means you can get knowledge about the conditioning of people in the Matrix and thus use them to do your bidding. This serves as the basis of the Merovingian’s power. Breaking free of it happens to a very rare few.

Have you read the Valis line of Philip K Dick books? It seems like you have. For those of you who have not, definitely read them. (and everything else Dick wrote) He does a great job of leading people through these ideas.

I have read sci-fi since the 60s. Some stuff by Dick. I did a search on the Valis stuff you mentioned. I have not read any of it.

An interesting thing about SF is that it shows you different possible cultures, sometimes alien ones. This gets your mind accustomed to the idea that culture is arbitrary, even the one you are living in. Every culture brainsoils its children into thinking in a different but correctly stupid way.

The world is caught up in a culture war now. It is partly a matter of Islam refusing to be dragged into the future but Christians are doing the same thing with this Creationism crap. The Matix of the internet makes us all participants in the techno-future-shock.

psikeyhackr

entropyfails wrote:

I though I’d spend a few minutes stepping you through some of my thoughts on the Matrix films....

Great post!

entropyfails wrote:

....Welcome to the Matrix. You have been plugged in. You go to a job. You further the “endless growth”. You buy things. The TV calls you a consumer. You cannot escape. Civilization is everywhere. You cannot run. They will find you and make you pay them. You cannot fight. They have airships, machine guns, and nukes. You are between a tiger and a lion in the middle of the most dangerous jungle. And the worst part is, you think you know what to do, that you are not in a jungle, that no lion wants to eat you, that no tiger will claw you.

There is much Matrix 1 in your thoughts, but how do you interpret Revolutions and the trilogy's ending in regard to that?

intell wrote:

Finally someone really understands what the films are about.

Larry: Yeah, I mean, you make a work of art, and you want it to be provocative, you want people to dialog about it, you don't want them to rely on somebody to tell them what it is, or... it's like, the whole nature of the movie is exactly that... inspect it and pursue it yourself
(...)
it seems hypocritical for us to go out and tell everybody what it's supposed to be about, or what you're supposed to think about it, and even if I was to do it, or Andy was to do it, and in the gentlest of terms and try to contextualize it as what it means to us...
(...)
It... because, by the very nature of us being the creators of it, it becomes, you know, law...
(...)
... it becomes THE interpretation, and anyone else's interpretation is just... some crazy individual that really doesn't get it.
(...)
I don't wanna devalue anybody's opinion of it, because they're all... that's, I don't know, I think that's one of the reasons that art is a worthwhile experience...
matrixfans.net...

I think Larry's is quite a healthy attitute....

tozy wrote:

entropyfails wrote: I though I’d spend a few minutes stepping you through some of my thoughts on the Matrix films.... Great post! There is much Matrix 1 in your thoughts, but how do you interpret Revolutions and the trilogy's ending in regard to that?

Thanks!

To me, the rest of the series goes into the prophetic narrative of WHY the One appears and how he goes about diffusing the situation. In the final films, we see the rise of the replicating Smiths. We have begun to see these sorts of beings in the real world as well. They don’t listen to logic, they demand conformity, and they want total power.

In the Matrix, the Smith’s represent a broken authoritarianism out of line with the controllers desires. They ruin the Matrix environment. They take over everything so that THEY can project a perfect future of identical thoughts. The ultimate goal always comes down to killing the One. They will do whatever it takes to get there. Have you seen these people hanging around the television? They don’t behave like the system controllers, who want measured steps and universal socialism. They infect others with their mind virus and those infected no longer even care about the truth. They demand obedience to their ideas. They can even find a way to infect people freed from the Matrix. The power of their conformity ruins everything.

The films also expand on role of the Architect and the Oracle. They paint the picture in Gnostic light. The Oracle sits at the end of time looking backwards, never knowing how the One will end the war there but believing that he will find away. The Architect sits at the beginning of time, evaluating everything with a causal mind forward, but uncertain of the final outcome. They show how they work together, but beyond the comprehension of either one, to bring about a prophetic system that has some sort of combined meaning given by the Source, but unknown to all and unknowable in principle.

The One offers himself up to the machine world in order for them to free themselves of the Smith power. Doing so destroys him, but he gets an end to the war in exchange. People will be able to leave the Matrix if they choose. By this offering, the people’s minds become freed from the attachment to the Smith worldview. As this process unfolds here, we may see something similar happen. Eventually Civilization will have to come to understand that it cannot grow indefinitely on a finite world. We all will have to wake up from this TV induced coma we find ourselves living in. The “bright sun” at the end of the Matrix shines in both the world of the real and the world of the Matrix. Life will flourish again and the authoritarian system will fade away, replaced with something new. The “refreshed” people represent the human race cleansed of any need to “live the ONE TRUE way.”

In short, the movies finish the story but contain gems for the One to follow. But in a sense, we all follow the path of the One. So I also agree with your final statement. Whatever you can find in the Matrix that brings meaning to your life will mean that you “understand” it. Search for the truth endlessly and know you will never reach it. In doing that, no accomplishment lies beyond our reach.

Quote:

I think Larry's is quite a healthy attitute....

If I drew someone a map to some place and then drove them there myself, then I either mistrust the map or the intelligence of the person for whom I made it, meaning I just wasted everybody's time.

psikeyhackr wrote:

An interesting thing about SF is that it shows you different possible cultures, sometimes alien ones. This gets your mind accustomed to the idea that culture is arbitrary, even the one you are living in. Every culture brainsoils its children into thinking in a different but correctly stupid way.

Very insightful. Once again, thanks Psikey.

entropyfails wrote:

Exactly. The Matrix of the real uses memes as its baseline software. I have listed the fundamental memes but many others bizarre ones also exist, like our country borders. And these memes go all the way down.

True indeed, but sad.

Another very insightful poster on the subject on another board, once said something along these lines.

rainking wrote:

Many Sci-fi movies and TV shows have elements of the story the matrix tells. But, a really interesting short is the second renaissance: part one. Everyone focuses on part two because of the war. But, they never focus on how the war started. Many people believe the war started because of outcome ofB166ER's trial. But, this isn't true at all. B1's trial was only the inflection point or as the journalists. And, some would say, a strategic inflection point, as Andy Grove would say. This couldn't be done unless there were things to set in motion to arrive at this point. So, what was happening? Humans figured out how to clone themselves into machines. We essentially started a slave economy so we can sit on our asses and play king. And, majority of humans had to agree to this, or it wouldn't have been a big deal. However, there were some of us who agreed that they shouldn't be killed either. What does that mean? It means there was propaganda for both sides. If you didn't notice, a lot of part one is expressed through the TV news.... But, what does this do? It widens the gap the sides. B166ER is only the beginning. Ok, after someone asks for their rights, what happens? Well, they need a way to sustain themselves, right? You're probably thinking eating and drinking and so forth. But, how about the intangibles, like fitting into society. Humans knew the robots were born of a superior knowledge, so they killed them to avoid the competition. What competition? Well, after the few that survived left, they competed by using their superior knowledge to make superior products. After they succeeded, they only thing left was to try to fit back into society. But, they were refused because the problem still stands. They're still superior. They're a problem because humans could never compete. So, all you need is the strategic inflection point that "we will remember", and propaganda to support it. Then, combine this with a few real threats and one can create the perception of fear. Truth is we humans become so set in our ways that the perceived fears are more dangerous than the real fear. At least, you can deal with the real fear. Perceived fear doesn't exist. But, anyway, like in the short, the perceived fear creates a divide between the human and machine. There are people in the streets smashing machines. Pleading for their lives didn't matter. People were caught in the fervor. It is that fervor that allowed the army to BLOCK THE SUN. How stupid is that? Instead of living in the heaven brought about the superior mind of the machine, the humans chose war. (Think about all the technologies the machines would have created that would have helped us). Isn't this what you're afraid of...the sun? How much propaganda have you read, lately? The machines had to survive, but now with their energy source gone. How could they? Even after the sun was blocked, they didn't chase down the humans. The humans willfully wanted. Keep in mind, the sun is our main energy source too. Though some humans chose (if they chose) to stay inside and hide from it. Their superior minds led them to humans. Again, the humans couldn't compete. They lost. Only to survive as batteries, slaves to the superior mind of the machines and later the AI in the system of the matrix. I think that answered your questions. But, like they say, "a little knowledge is dangerous." A famous anarchist must of said that. Let's look at from a slightly different angle. I'm sure you've heard the propaganda that "blonds have more fun." Why is that? And, what is fun? Generally, anything that is fun blinds from our worries. So, name the people on this planet who don't have to worry about anything and have fun all the time? The privileged. So, blonds are more priviledged. I'm sure you've heard blond jokes. Jokes can be very viral. They also bring about acceptance into society. So, a dumb, blond is accepted in society. Dumb blonds have a position in society, right? What is it? They teach you how to have fun. They teach you how to act as if you're priviledged. And, with that said, let's look at the person who's currently holding the blond-bimbo spot. Britney Spears. A young, (fake blond) girl shows up on the scene. She can sing (with electronics) and dance. It's rumoured that her breasts are fake and she's only sixteen. This gets the guys attention because most of us are just horny machines. If she's mutiliatiing herself at 16, guys are just waiting to see what she'll do when she turns an adult. If guys give a lot of attention to one girl, a good deal of women will conform to that standard in the hopes of being covered by the security of society. Keep in mind, many female archetypes are romantic in nature, e.g. the beautiful princess that is saved by the handsome prince...the prince that carried the cross for the world. Let's do an analysis of romantic, princess-type movies vs. actual princesses living in society. But, then there are women who will not conform. As a matter of fact, they go against the propaganda openly and willingly machine. So, Britney Spears creates a divide between women and a divide between what is considered to be intelligent behavior (for men and women) and what is not. Who creates the machine...mostly men. Who takes the hit for the men who created the machine? A nice guy. Hence, the next meme, "Nice guys finish last." Now, you have a divide between nice guys and the men of the machine. Notice how after men accomplish what they set out to do, they become these nice guys and find religion. Just a coincidence? Nope. Some years later, we find out that Britney is humping everyone and it doesn't matter whether it's true or not. Because she's just having fun. So, sex isn't even called sex anymore. Society takes a slight change. Causal sex isn't even sex anymore. It's hooking up. No dinner, no date is even needed. We allow it because the machine said so. Meanwhile, the nonconformists say, that's crazy, everyone is crazy but me. The conformists say, you're just not cool, you're a geek. (ahem, it's a reality show now). So what we end up with a culture and a counterculture. So, where's the inflection point? What some people call morality. And, the age of maturity. How old should people have sex? How old should they be when they hear about sex? Is it good? Is it bad? Should people have sex before they're married? These really aren't problems because you can't stop people from having sex. You can try and when you do, that will cause another battle or a war. The solution really is to view Britney Spears as an individual and an entertainer. And, not to add or detract from what she does on stage or on record. We perceive blonds to have fun therefore if we see a successful blond, that must be the way to have fun and the way to be successful (as a dumb blond-bimbo). And, they're right because the world intended to blind you from the truth supports that supposition. So, here's how it's further supported. Because very few people are creative in this world, even those in the creative world, copycats are created. Copycats work are cheap too; so there you go. Their job is to keep the machine going. And, as everyone in KM knows, knowledge increases over time. Your dumb-bimbo blond will slip up or get wise and when she does, the copycats are right there. What music exec. wants a smart blond on their hands. So, we remind the smart one of the copycats just waiting to take their position and let's not forget about the Ferrari she crashed. Let's see we have Jessica Simpson...Lindsay Lohan...Christina Aguilara (to an extent, talk about talent squandered). Look at Christina's career; how long was she able to sustain the, "I'm the good girl with talent" model. Not very long. Who's attempting to play that role...Jennifer Lopez, who took over Aguilara's spot, who took Mariah Carey's spot, after she went nuts. Lopez gets married to people so she bang them. Worse of all, a lot of celebs don't have a clue to what's going on. And, others do. I say, more power to them. All you have are the decisions you make. What piece of propaganda helped you make a decision today? And, before you say you're immune to it, no one is immune to it. Ask your women friends (assuming that you have them) where they got their ideas of fashion from? And, that's just Britney Spears. Later

You can find him now here:

entropyfails wrote:

intell wrote: Finally someone really understands what the films are about. But since most posters here only look at The Matrix from a technical standpoint, I say "good luck with that". n-tell Broadcasting from the Entropical Paradise *laugh* Yeah. People continue to use the same tired old thinking, even when probed into greater understanding by art, philosophy, or free thinking. Helping them gets you no thanks. However, I feel that we must do this work because the alternative means the death of most life on this planet. I cannot allow that to happen. The “Smiths” have become stronger in recent years. They infect others with their reckless ways. We need to counter it or we can never get the controllers of the matrix to understand why they need to stop killing the Zionists and how that ties into controlling the Smiths. The Matrix movies touched people on this site. It stands to reason that they can continue the real search and come to an even deeper understanding of the films and their lives. I believe that if we work hard enough, we can make this change. And Morpheus said that if we fail, “Then tomorrow we’ll all be dead. But how is that different than any other day?”

*laugh* you are fucking insane. It's a movie, dude, a fucking movie.

Quote:

*laugh* you are fucking insane. It's a movie, dude, a fucking movie.

So what you're saying is if I make a movie about your life, that's just a movie too and no one should believe that you exist at all just because it is a movie. I see now.

Isn't it funny how selective people are about where information they accept as truth is supposed to come from. The same information could be presented in college or in church and it becomes "absolute truth." So who's "f"ing insane now?

Star Wars is "a fucking movie."

The Matrix is a movie!

asdf76 wrote:

*laugh* you are fucking insane. It's a movie, dude, a fucking movie.

Art has inspired people for thousands of years. It has contained metaphors and allegories for as long as we have made art. Did you really come here to tell me that because we have repackaged art in a movie form that we no longer should search for any meaning? Try to think more deeply and criticize better.

intell wrote:

Isn't it funny how selective people are about where information they accept as truth is supposed to come from. The same information could be presented in college or in church and it becomes "absolute truth." So who's "f"ing insane now?

Agreed!

His post contains a silver lining for me in that he went through all the trouble to register and post a message after reading this post. Obviously, I caused some sort of internal conflict in him. Perhaps he’ll seek his own version of truth now instead of listening to whatever he’s told. Doubtful, but I relish planting the seed no matter where it lands. *smile*

entropyfails wrote:

I though I’d spend a few minutes stepping you through some of my thoughts on the Matrix films and seeing what you think. Perhaps in time I can upload my entire reasoning, but we can make a start here. 1) The Matrix films uses metaphors and analogies to point back to the real world we live in and fundamentals of human behavior. They do not try to emulate the physical reality of the future, though their barren world does represent a possible future if we do not change our ways. This statement may end up being controversial, but you really limit yourself by trying to understand “why didn’t the robots fly into space and make space mirrors to get energy?” or other forms of nonsense. The “energy theory” has no physical plausibility, it simply serves as a nice metaphor. The original idea involved having the human mind running the Matrix like a giant computer, but that ended up being to complicated for most people. So we got the lesser metaphor, the battery one. Likewise, trying to decide if the “real” exists as a “matrix in a matrix” won’t help either. However, proving this will take more time than I wish to spend on this post. I’ll come back to this. Several of you already see the reasons for it, as I have seen. I don’t want to discourage discussion however. So theories about whatever you want to. But if you really want to understand the Matrix Trilogy, you’ll have to move beyond the direct analogies and move to the more complicated ones that the movies actually deal with. I want you to understand that the Matrix Trilogy serves as a FINGER pointing to the MOON, to borrow a Zen phrase. It doesn’t map perfectly, it has flaws and warts, but if you follow the path, it can lead you to real insight. By obsessing with the FINGER, you miss the MOON. 2) You already live in a “matrix” and the movies want to show this to you. You call that matrix your “perceptions.” You cannot see the world. You cannot touch the world. The YOU, as a reasoning mind, never deals with the real world. You only deal with neural inputs and their manipulations. “YOU” have no difference than a running program, other than the massive complexity the human brain can hold compared to modern computers. This one also seems hard for most people to understand. Our society has trained us to constantly identify with our perceptions. But the perceptions and the thing perceived have no connection. Human consciousness comes from the reflected perceptions, and hence can never deal with the thing perceived. Again, to many this seems obvious, but I will expand upon it during the thread and in later posts for those who want more insight. 3) The “matrix” of the real world goes by another name, civilization. If you notice, Smith says that the Matrix in the movie was a perfect copy of “your civilization.” He then goes on to condemn humans as an endlessly multiplying virus. Of course, not all humans have done this. So the real question becomes, WHY do civilized people endlessly multiply and destroy their environment? The answer comes from people being “stuck” inside civilization just like they are “stuck” inside the Matrix. Why are they stuck? Because people inside civilization believe the following things: 1) The world was made for man and man was made to rule it and derive pleasure from it. 2) Endlessly growing more food to feed our growing population is required due to the first rule. 3) Civilization is the TRUE way to live and ALL other people must live this way or be killed. By becoming aware of those rules, you find them endlessly repeated everywhere in our culture, no matter where you live. You’ll hear them in your own thoughts. You’ll see friends and family members espouse the virtue of these rules. But they are obviously absurd. They lead to the death of all life on earth, including human life, because life does not live by eating itself endlessly. We require the ecosystem to survive. Endlessly eating it kills our life support system. This is why the world of the future has no life on it. The sky has been raped, the world hollowed out, and all life dead with only robots running free. But those with eyes see it already in our world today. If you don’t believe this, turn on your TV. Listen to the news. Talk with friends and family members. Once you look for this message, you’ll see it underneath everything. Civilization requires these myths to keep people from leaving it. To break free of the Matrix you must first realize what mental thoughts keep it running in your mind, at least at an outer level. Welcome to the Matrix. You have been plugged in. You go to a job. You further the “endless growth”. You buy things. The TV calls you a consumer. You cannot escape. Civilization is everywhere. You cannot run. They will find you and make you pay them. You cannot fight. They have airships, machine guns, and nukes. You are between a tiger and a lion in the middle of the most dangerous jungle. And the worst part is, you think you know what to do, that you are not in a jungle, that no lion wants to eat you, that no tiger will claw you. “The matrix is the wool pulled before our eyes.” Good luck friends!

I think a much faster conclusion is, "Life sucks, and there ain't much that can be done!" As this also avoids all the sweaty conspiracy theory, even better.

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I think a much faster conclusion is, "Life sucks, and there ain't much that can be done!" As this also avoids all the sweaty conspiracy theory, even better.

Hey EntropyFails. I think you planted a seed here, too. Yeah?

Absolutely. I mean, I'm completely convinced. Seriously though, it's a very nice parallel, but nothing more than using the Matrix an analogy. It claims that the Matrix et al IS the analogy, but it's not more than a lot of contrived, pretensious fluff. It can be used as a good allegory though.

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It claims that the Matrix et al IS the analogy, but it's not more than a lot of contrived, pretensious fluff. It can be used as a good allegory though.

It is amazing how little is known by the fan base. I guess you're going to tell us it was just a nice kung-fu/sci-fi epic with cutting-edge special effects.

Or maybe you can just admit that there is very little that you can understand and/or have observed in the op that you highlighted and call it a day.