Pr⊕phet
24-05-2007, 07:07 AM
interesting read at
http://www.briandemilio.com/matrix.html
The Matrix - itself - is a supposed world of fiction where humans experience a simulated life programmed by a computer generated environment set in the late 20th century. The computers are a race of machines with a singular consciousness spawned from Artificial Intelligence. Like any living being, its first natural instinct is survival. The story goes that a war began over the fate of dominance of the planet with the new, mechanical intelligence launching an aggression against their human creators. The threat of machines capable of such awareness and, thus, aggression caused a conflict whereby humans were reduced to secondary life forms and, eventually, as energy sources for the machines. Upon first seeing the physical earth in the Matrix films, we are shown human farms where people are no longer born but grown. The humans are then placed in pods where body heat is derived as a source of energy. This harvested energy is a source of power for the machines. The humans, meanwhile, exist physically in the pods while their minds are plugged into a computer hard drive. The Matrix is that hard drive. It is a computer program designed by the machines to simulate true life through stimulation of the brain.
The scientific basis for such a model to exist is not only possible but also plausible. Science tells us that every sensation - touch, sound, smell, sight, and taste - is simply information sent to the brain via sensory pipelines. The information is then interpreted by the brain and processed. The smell of a rose is simply information recognized through sensory organs (the nose) and sent to the brain which then interprets the smell as "rose." The body is covered in a layer of a vastly complex sensory organ called the skin. We feel the rustle of our pants as we walk, bump against a chair, or step on a tack and the information of those occurrences are sent to the brain at light speed for processing. Nerve cells, or neurons, act as a living system of information for the interpreter, the brain. The nervous system senses everything that touches us, everything we hear, everything we smell, see, and taste. The best (but rather small) example of this concept at work is seeing an advertisement for your favorite food and feeling your mouth water. Or, seeing a picture of a lemon and feeling the twinge of a puckered mouth. These are suggestions and not at all real. However, our brain knows what those tastes are and our body seems to react. It is fascinating to imagine a fictitious world where every sense is accessed and simulated and then sharing that world with the rest of humanity who are having the same experience. Walking into downtown Manhattan and opening the door of a cab (the driver experiencing the same ocurrence in his own mind) and driving to Central Park where the trees and grass are programmed to be there and to smell like trees and grass. The sound of birds chirping, joggers running, the sun shining, the breeze blowing, etc. This subject matter speaks to the idea of collective consciousness. With so many different sensory stimulations in place and so many different people experiencing them without realizing they are essentially dreaming, the world would seem to go on as it always has. People would grow from childhood, get jobs, marry, buy a house, go to work, go to church, play in the grass, enjoy a sunset on the beach. All the while, having never moved from a pod where they will eventually die and be discarded as waste.
http://www.briandemilio.com/matrix.html
The Matrix - itself - is a supposed world of fiction where humans experience a simulated life programmed by a computer generated environment set in the late 20th century. The computers are a race of machines with a singular consciousness spawned from Artificial Intelligence. Like any living being, its first natural instinct is survival. The story goes that a war began over the fate of dominance of the planet with the new, mechanical intelligence launching an aggression against their human creators. The threat of machines capable of such awareness and, thus, aggression caused a conflict whereby humans were reduced to secondary life forms and, eventually, as energy sources for the machines. Upon first seeing the physical earth in the Matrix films, we are shown human farms where people are no longer born but grown. The humans are then placed in pods where body heat is derived as a source of energy. This harvested energy is a source of power for the machines. The humans, meanwhile, exist physically in the pods while their minds are plugged into a computer hard drive. The Matrix is that hard drive. It is a computer program designed by the machines to simulate true life through stimulation of the brain.
The scientific basis for such a model to exist is not only possible but also plausible. Science tells us that every sensation - touch, sound, smell, sight, and taste - is simply information sent to the brain via sensory pipelines. The information is then interpreted by the brain and processed. The smell of a rose is simply information recognized through sensory organs (the nose) and sent to the brain which then interprets the smell as "rose." The body is covered in a layer of a vastly complex sensory organ called the skin. We feel the rustle of our pants as we walk, bump against a chair, or step on a tack and the information of those occurrences are sent to the brain at light speed for processing. Nerve cells, or neurons, act as a living system of information for the interpreter, the brain. The nervous system senses everything that touches us, everything we hear, everything we smell, see, and taste. The best (but rather small) example of this concept at work is seeing an advertisement for your favorite food and feeling your mouth water. Or, seeing a picture of a lemon and feeling the twinge of a puckered mouth. These are suggestions and not at all real. However, our brain knows what those tastes are and our body seems to react. It is fascinating to imagine a fictitious world where every sense is accessed and simulated and then sharing that world with the rest of humanity who are having the same experience. Walking into downtown Manhattan and opening the door of a cab (the driver experiencing the same ocurrence in his own mind) and driving to Central Park where the trees and grass are programmed to be there and to smell like trees and grass. The sound of birds chirping, joggers running, the sun shining, the breeze blowing, etc. This subject matter speaks to the idea of collective consciousness. With so many different sensory stimulations in place and so many different people experiencing them without realizing they are essentially dreaming, the world would seem to go on as it always has. People would grow from childhood, get jobs, marry, buy a house, go to work, go to church, play in the grass, enjoy a sunset on the beach. All the while, having never moved from a pod where they will eventually die and be discarded as waste.