Crashing into the Matrix

What can I say about The Matrix? So much has already been said and analyzed when it comes to the film, even by me. When it was released, it took everyone by surprise. No one could imagine this bizarre combination of action, fighting and philosophy, all in this cyberpunkish-enviroment. It was a new and different way of presenting ideas and thoughts, it was literally explosive and blew everyone's mind. Few could understand it, yet everyone loved it. They made a safe bet creating this film I think, because they knew that even though the masses might not understand the philosophy behind the film, they would love the film itself for all its innovative action sequences. So it's a win-win in either case, and a very profitable situation indeed. But it has been discussed plentifully from every possible angle, so I think I will draw comparisons between The Matix and Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash instead.

I didn't really think about The Matrix while I was reading Snow Crash, but it seems to me what both Metaverses have in common is a sense of predictability. By using the code provided by the Construct and specific googles and software, the characters in both enviroments can use these elements to adpot a heightened awareness of their surroundings and get the ability to dodge bullets, know where to go to be safe, how to move to avoid getting killed. The obvious difference, however, is that in The Matrix this can only help you in the simulated reality, whereas in Snow Crash these tools are used in the real world. It seems to me that the world in Snow Crash is a bit closer to what Jean Baudrillard calls hyperreality and third-order simulacra. There's a very tight relationship between The Metaverse and The Reality in Neal Stephenson's book, they complete each other and heighten the users experience of both. Whereas in The Matrix, The Metaverse and The Reality are each other's enemies, where the first is used to control people's minds and the latter is a plateau for a broken fight for freedom.

What also struck me as interesting in both the film and the book, is the broken sense of time. Snow Crash seems to be a straightforward story of chained events where all the characters are busy doing something all the time. Right? Wrong. At some point, towards the end of the book, Hiro suddenly thinks about the many times he and Y.T. have eaten junk food together. But the book leaves no account of such a thing happening, so when exactly did it happen? We can never know, but this just shows that we're not left a complete account of the supposed events. And in The Matrix, Morpheus just tells Neo that he thinks it's the year 2199. He can't be sure, he might be completely wrong. There's more about time in the following Matrix films, but I won't go there now. But these things also tie into Baudrillard's idea of an era where time no longer exists.

The Metaverse of Snow Crash visualizes that which Second Life is a step towards - an enviroment used for business as much as entertainment, and where people can interact with each other when they cannot do so in the real world. Need a quick business meeting to discuss urgent matters? You don't have to fly half across the world to meet your partners, you can just plug into The Metaverse and voilá, they're all there. Need a tight security system to protect your property? Get a Thing, a semi robot-dog killing machine that knows everything that's going on around your land and will act faster than you can say "Woof". Are you immobilized after a horrible accident that has robbed you of any chance to move around properly? Create a realistic enviroment in The Metaverse where you can spend your days peacefully observing your real world self and countless events and other people. The possibilities are endless.

It's a fascinating vision, and as it would seem, we are definitely headed in that direction. One can only hope that we will learn how to use this technology for good and not become arrogant idiots which will eventually lead us to our doom. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the vision of The Matrix is far off either. We do have a tendency to really screw things up and think that we're gods or something. Take Babel, for example. Or Atlantis. Or even, heh, USA.

- Eve.