This week, we took our Heart of Darkness test, which included writing a paragraph connecting it to the Matrix. Throughout this whole unit, the idea of a Matrix-esque society has really piqued my interest. The scariest thing about science fiction movies is that, since they are set in the future, it's much easier to believe they could happen, or in the case of the Matrix, be happening right now. I'm honestly not sure what I would do if I discovered my whole life was a series of numbers created by machines, using my very life-force as a Duracell battery.
First of all, like Neo, I would probably be stuck in denial for a good period of time. I'd also be freaking out because of all the creepy metal holes all over my body; I'm extremely squeamish about things like that. I'd definitely try to rationalize this, think it was a dream, and repeatedly try to "wake up". After numerous failures, I'd probably just have a breakdown. I really don't know if I could handle it: knowing that my life really wasn't my own, it was just a sham, a little cyberworld. Presuming that I am not the One, the person destined to save the world, I think I would much rather head back into my little fairytale world and forget about it. Especially since the only other option, living in the real world, entails living on a tiny little ship, on a decrepit earth with no sunlight, no civilization, no hope.
I wonder how the writers of the Matrix originally got the idea. Here's a nice "what if": What if we actually are all in the Matrix, but the machines created this movie to try and convince the rest of us, the nice little vegetables, that since it's a movie, it can't be true? It's silly, but can you ever really know for sure?
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Jenna,
Your what ifing is interesting, but I would respond, at least to your last thought, with a so what?
So what if we're in a matrix fantasyland?
So what if you can never really know who or what you could be or are?
So what if there are actually holes in you?
Well, I guess you might like to know. But let's say you couldn't ever know. Let's say your actual body is in a soupy machine cell being harvested for energy.
Does it matter?
The human body is pretty limited to just being able to process, understand, and experience what our senses take. We conjecture and dream a lot, but even that is just based around experiences we've already had. That means that if we're living in a dream world, our body behaves as if that dream world were real. Your body doesn't care. It's pretty easy to trick. Maybe your mind is the same?
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