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Published: March 26, 2019, 7:45 a.m.

This movie is awesome \n\n

It is! And also we\u2019re old. But honestly this is still unironically the best thing. The legacy of the Matrix. Falling back in love with the Wachowskis. Addressing the sequels.

\n\n Cyberpunk \n\n

The Matrix as cyberpunk. Comparing against other touchstones. Philip K Dick. William Gibson\u2019s review from the time.

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When I began to write NEUROMANCER, there was no \u201ccyberpunk\u201d. THE MATRIX is arguably the ultimate \u201ccyberpunk\u201d artifact. Or will be, if the sequels don\u2019t blow. I hope they don\u2019t, and somehow have a hunch they won\u2019t, but I\u2019m glad I\u2019m not the one who has to worry about it.

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-William Gibson, lol

\n\n Old school computing \n\n

Damn kids and their pixels. CRT displays and low/high persistence phosphorus and how we wound up irl with the bright glowing green text aesthetic that informed The Matrix. Eye fatigue back in the day. Computer-touchers. Staring at people at work for fun and profit. The Solarized color schemes.

\n\n The Matrix \n\n

Taking the red pill. How easy it actually really is to explain what The Matrix is. Neo is a giant, slimy baby. The inefficiencies of using humans as batteries when you have fusion power. Grass, tastes bad.

\n\n Benevolent AI Dictators \n\n

But WHAT IF The Matrix actually has humanity\u2019s best interests in mind? The possibility that they really tried to give us our utopia.

\n\n Virtual worlds \n\n

Plasticity and your brain\u2019s willingness to accept new input schemes. Designing The Matrix with a \u201cfailsafe\u201d so the humans are unadapted to their physical bodies irl. Acquired synaesthesia. Supernumerary limbs and phallic cartwheels. Upside down goggles and adaptation to a new \u201cup.\u201d Permanence in sensory adaptations.

\n\n Hacking The Matrix \n\n

Bendable physics. The difficulty with bending or breaking the rules of computing hardware.

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1. \n\t\t\t\tThe Backwards Brain Bicycle by Smarter Every Day: YouTube\n\t\t\t
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2. \n\t\t\t\tThe Animatrix: iTunesAmazonYouTube\n\t\t\t
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3. \n\t\t\t\tThe Pizza Matrix (it's terrible): YouTube\n\t\t\t
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