I hate to rain on your parade, but the ideas contained in the matrix movies
have been around for FAR longer than computers.
Biggest problem is that all the endless "philosophical" discussion will get
the participants almost nowhere, except for giving them some sort of
vicarious short-lived excitement. The true exploration of the
"matrix-style" philosophy is an exploration totally within; not through
books and professors, etc. - and it is far from easy. The ingestion of
external knowledge will get one only so far, then ultimately all this
self-enhancing knowledge has to be jettisoned.
The good thing is that a very small percentage of the students of "matrix
philosophy" will see a glimmer through a very small crack, and will embark
on a totally independent type of exploration, free of dogma, scientific or
philosophical, which may or may not result in something.
P.
At 01:11 PM 4/17/2006 -0700, you wrote:
Forget the feeble antics of the DVC and move-on to some heretical
reality-code, Bro...
Many educated, doctoral level thinkers like Massimo Pigliucci, Jake
Horsley et al., have been so impressed with the (largely unintended)
theological, epistemological and ontological implication of the movie
trilogy - Matrix - that a mini-industry is forming: an impressive
outpouring of thought and effort expended on this once rather dry and
arcane subject: "what is real". The film has even become the basis of
numerous well-attended courses in the once-shunned Philosophy Departments
at major universities.
If L.Ron Hubbub and his minions can spawn a whole new religion based on
ridiculous, self-indulgent, 3rd-rate SciFi ramblings, then the Matrix may
yet end-up being the basis for the next world-wide united-religious
movement... I hear that the Vatican (or at least Opus Dei) is already
looking to relocate in El Segundo ;-) ... and what shall we call it:
Neoteny <dpi> ? (that's dpi for double pun intended)
You can ditch the film's non-stop action, 'spent-round' look-and-feel,
superb f-X glitz, overworked symbolism, annoying posturing, vague
androgynous leather-jacketed romance, and the hip-pop'n-Ncrowd-cachet, and
even then there is still, underlying it all: surprising profundity ... a
rather deep rabbit hole, shall we say, Alice?
Four literary offerings of note, may help the seeker-of-truth (IOW the
average-vo) obtain a less-foggy glimpse through the "looking glass" ...
and may be had at Amazon.com. EXPLORING THE MATRIX is an anthology of
eighteen contributions, mostly from writers classified as "cyberpunk and
science-fiction visionaries"... which is not exactly an endorsement of
expertise in ontology, but the essays are insightful. THE MATRIX AND
PHILOSOPHY: Welcome to the Desert of the Real, by William Irwin (Editor)
is better but more erudite and a bit neocon. "Many people recognize The
Matrix as a retelling of "the greatest story ever told..." not to mention:
we're not sure that any Nazarite could dodge that much live ammo.
K J. Murtagh uses "Matrix " in his college philosophy course. In his
review he say of the Irwin book and the movie: "This book provides me
with an "in" that I can use in order to discuss very important
philosophical issues". It is often difficult to make the material "come to
life", especially when teaching a required course. By using this book, it
is possible to make the process much more enjoyable for students who would
otherwise be disinterested. A few highlights:
Ch.1: Computers, Caves, and Oracles: Neo and Socrates- Compares Plato's
allegory of the cave to Neo's journey. An excellent discussion of what it
means to lead an examined life and seek the truth. Excellent segue into
the red pill/blue pill debate.
Ch.6: The Machine-Made Ghost: Or, The Philosophy of Mind, Matrix Style-
Discusses Artificial Intelligence and the nature of the mind. The author
argues against dualism and favors a materialistic view. Leads to a
discussion on whether or not it would be theoretically possible for a
Matrix to exist and the presuppositions that are present in the movie with
regard to the nature of the mind.
Ch.8: Fate, Freedom, and Foreknowledge: A discussion of fate, freedom,
omniscience and determinism. Even if they escaped the Matrix, would people
really be free?
Ch.11: Happiness and Cypher's Choice: Is Ignorance Bliss?- My favorite
essay in the book. What do we make of Cypher's decision to try to return
to the Matrix? Is a decimated reality preferable to an artificial world
where you can "eat" a juicy steak and do not have to worry about Sentinels
trying to kill you? The author says that it is, and his argument is very
thought-provoking.
But two other collections of essays are even more interesting to me:
JOURNEY TO THE SOURCE: Decoding Matrix Trilogy, by Pradheep Challiyil is
one. And MATRIX WARRIOR - Being the One, by Jake Horsley is probably the
best of the lot.
Horsley's exegesis, as other reviewers have also noted, consists of three
derivative claims about work-a-day reality as set out in Matrix - all of
which turn up in almost every work on modern ontology.
1. "Reality" can be identical to a kind of self-imposed prison (i.e.
pre-Neo in his office, neither happy or fulfilled)... less a prison than a
constraining web which has been woven out of our encoded societal memes,
pressures and expectations. Like the big-birds say about the left coast,
"you can check out but you can never leave."
2. We are born as slaves, oftentimes staying-on as willing slaves to this
duplicity - partaking in a shared hallucination... at least up until the
time when the more rebellious dare to "take the red pill"
3. Humanity is little more than a
"food/energy/information/entertainment/biodiversity source" for a
higher-order of intelligence, even if that higher order has been recently
evolved (in the past 5000 years) from the common man himself (i.e. the
all-souls-divinity).
Of course, when you add in the PKD-spawned material on the "real"
implications of VALIS and the fact that the higher-order of intelligence
may in fact have traveled here from another reality, then things get very
confusing as to whether divinity actually exists in 3-space "in the flesh"
as it were, or only in "spirit". Given that Valis may have been
manufactured, and that its intelligence is mechanical but superior - then
we have come full circle to Deus ex Machina. Not that anyone believes in
the physical reality of Valis...<g>
IOW - when we look at all the many nuances and implications of the Matrix
film trilogy - a lot can be "read into it" which was once the exclusive
province of egg-heads with Hessian monikers. But if you are so inclined
(even professorially inclined) and desirous of reaching a much broader
audience than the Kant-stand-Heidegger variety of resource - then, hey
take a blue pill now, pocket the red one, read more, and make up your mind
before doing anything rash ...
... after all, bro, tha' "Nebuchadnezza" is a pretty funky ride, greatly
in need of some Smith-like pimping-up, and shared hallucinations aren't
all that bad. Kinda like the "placebo effect" ... i.e. who care if the
pill is fake when the cure is real.
Chapter listing of MATRIX WARRIOR: 'NOT JUST A MOVIE, IT'S AN EXPERIENCE !'
If these are not provocative enough enticement, then why are you still
reading this?
(1) First Variable: LIVING IN A DREAM WORLD
Reality as a Snare: Postmodernist Twenty-First Century Fragmentation
(2) We Are Not Amused: Rules for Beginners
(3) The Seven Deadly Virtues:
Primary Motivating Factors for Plugged-in Humans
(4) Automatons 'R' Us
(2) Second Variable: THERE IS NO SPOON
(5) Hologram Ethics: Reality as Game-Plan
(6) Rules of Empowerment: DIY Unplugging
(7) Sins Against the State: Eight Cardinal Virtues of the Matrix Warrior
(8) The Vale of Soul-Making: Understanding the Matrix
(3) Third Variable: YOU THINK THAT'S AIR YOU'RE BREATHING ?
(9) Do You Believe in Fate ? The Sorcerer's Will to Freedom
(10) Life in the Matrix: Appropriate Responses to Illusory Stimuli
(11) You Are Not You: Life as Simulacra
This is probably the book I should have written, but with a little more
humor and attention to Yahaa-the-Horselover (the second Baptist, so to
speak)...
Yours unruly,
Harry Tuttle,
Eng.d'loi & Neoromancer
