Technology and Nature are, at their core, the same thing. So far-fetched right? Nope.
First think about this. What happens when you sit watching TV for like hours on end, all day, everyday? You feel like your eye balls are going to burn out and all you want to do is go outside and get some fresh air. And what happens when you are shoved out into nature for a few weeks with no way to contact the outside world and you have to hunt and search for food and shelter? All you want is a hot shower and a TV and your phone. Technology and nature lure one another; there needs to be a delicate balance between the two, a balance that is disturbed in the Matrix.
The Matrix is like watching a movie (haha, i know). But seriously. If the movie is convincing enough, soon you forget that you're even watching a movie because your mind is so invested in the plot. The Matrix completely engulfs the minds of the people inside of it, so much so, that they don't even know they are living in a virtual world. Technology has literally taken over these people. And when they are freed, it's like leaving the movie. It seems so bright outside because you were just in a dark room, and it takes a minute for you to get comfortable with the sunlight. But you wouldn't go watch two or three movies in a row would you? Only if it was all 8 Harry Potter movies in a row, I know, but other than that, your brain would just fry.
The Matrix is literally one giant piece of technology; it is a network of math equations woven together to create this complex virtual world. The Matrix engulfs the minds of people, it literally lures them in without them even knowing it. And they are constantly contained in this world, with no breathes of fresh air allowed. Not even Neo, Trinity or Morpheus get a breath of fresh air because they lives surround entirely around the Matrix. But isn't it obvious that they want one? To me, it seems like they don't want to be in the Matrix, but they aren't exactly happen living their lives outside the Matrix either. Everything is about plugging someone in to give them certain skills, or transport them somewhere else, or codes to Zion. Everything is technology. They live in a world where technology controls them.
And yet, they so obviously reject nature as well, because when Morpheus shows Neo what the outside world really looks like, it is not like he is begging to stay out there, under the stormy sky. And that's just it. When nature and earth failed them, humans ran to technology to save them. And now they are stuck in a web of technology and they want out; they want to go back to nature.
Nature and technology have the same effect on people. They are scary, and a lot of the time, beyond our mind capacity. But we are lured to both for comfort as well, and this is so evident in the Matrix simply because the people are so uncomfortable. Think about it. There was basically no sunlight in the movie, and the almost the entire plot took place in places made entirely of metal.
So it seems like a stretch, only because there is literally nothing about nature in the Matrix. But nature has everything to do with the Matrix. It is human nature to seek out nature when technology complicates life. The Matrix makes the characters seek out nature, even when they know they can't get it. After all, they have been staring at those codes for so long they are about to burn their eyes out too. They want out. They want a breath of fresh air.
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ReplyDeleteI like the dialectic between nature and technology. Often I have imagined these as opposites but in the scenario of the Matrix I can see how they can play off each other.
ReplyDeleteIt is sort of like when people want what they cannot have. In nature they are pine for technology and security. When surrounded by technology they pine for nature and freedom.
Also, ultimately technology has become so advanced and intertwined that it is a huge network. Nature is also a huge network where each individual thing relies on the other in a huge complicated system.
The introduction of the idea of human nature is also interesting. It is a pretty abstract concept and in a scenario of the Matrix I think that the individual's decision is tentative. However, I think the factors that influence human decision making are things like technology and nature around us.
In my personal experience I have not spent as much time in nature as I wish I could have but I could easily understand how I could be lulled by it the same way as technology. I do agree that this is a scary notion because it means that our every decision is so easy influenced.