morningsun76 wrote:I suggest that these powers have anticipated the threat and are attempting to head it off by "hijacking the waves" so to speak via disinformation -- the Magic of Holly-Wood. In this case, since people are awakening to the real matrix, create a movie in tune with that theme, ie, "The Matrix," which has a great story and tells almost the whole story that people have already realized by intuition -- but with one or two deadly disinformational twists which will serve to keep the masses willingly subservient to the system rather than realizing just how bad off they are in this reality.
Yes indeed! It is a known tactic among intelligence agencies to create revolutionary groups in anticipation of their creation by the people, and to seed these groups with their own agents. When the people start looking for a way to fight the repressive regime, they flock to these groups instead of starting their own. Then the powers that be can control discourse, steering it away from their own weaknesses. They can keep the people arguing with each other instead of actually doing something, or they can make sure the people attack only windmills. The structure of the ideas presented in the original Matrix might control discourse, and the meaningless noise and informational glut of the sequels might cause pointless arguments and indecision.
I thought the "coppertop" analogy in the Matrix movie was too simplistic, as was the idea that those who enslave us are nothing more than the machines we created. Raw energy is probably not all the real control system is after. It may be after many additional things--such as the computing power of the human mind--or it may be after nothing, being the creation of entities who keep us jailed and weak out of pure fear over what we might do to them if freed! The idea that we alone introduced the matrix control system through our technology is a suspiciously anemic concept. The sequels seemed to present the idea that we are alone in the universe, surrounded by our toys, and that if we wish to do so, we can arrive at the "wisdom" that our lifelike machines are actually alive. The machines we produce are supposedly going to have souls or spirits or something by virtue of our imagination. The vibe I got from the Matrix sequels is that the artificial lifeforms our culture is destined to produce should either be "forgiven" or "loved" rather than dismantled or never created in the first place. The Matrix movies say "this is inevitable, how are you going to react to it?" rather than "this is avoidable, here is how desire for its construction arises in the human soul."
Technology isn't developed in a vacuum. All technological innovations are rooted in the needs--or perceived needs--of the culture that produces them. Right now, our culture thinks it understands what a human needs: comfort, money, power, control, sex, success, adulation, orderliness, etc. It is insanity to produce sophisticated technology when you have no understanding of your own needs! This is like building a golden statue with clay feet, as in the biblical dream of King Nebuchadnezzer. The statue may be beautiful, but with such a weak foundation it cannot stand for long. The culture may be technologically advanced, but if it the technology is built by shallow idiots, it will at some point impinge upon the rights of those who aren't shallow, and they will shake it off and destroy it.
The Matrix movies seem to want us to accept the robots as something more than they are, by seducing us into believing the robots have souls, (that glowing golden stuff Neo saw) and that the souls were generated by us (despite our blatant ignorace of "soul") through the workings of technology on physical matter! But I don't think the creations of idiots have souls, only that the creations can be sufficiently complex to attract souls, like a moth to a flame, or a spider to a sweet glue trap. We shouldn't try to live with robots and smile at their trapped souls while patting ourselves on the back for being so loving and accepting. Rather, we should work to discern the nature of our own souls, their flesh-and-blood traps, the prison within which the traps are kept, the jailers, and the greater laws to which all of it is subjected. Discerning these laws, discussing them, believing them, taking them seriously, celebrating them, and following them is the true work. It may also be what the rulers of the matrix are most afraid of!
--Justin
