Indeed! By the way, have you seen The Thirteenth Floor? (A movie that may or may not have inspired The Matrix and that predated it by only a few months; apparently the Wachowskis had access to its script and some of the similarities are uncanny).
I just realized I told you the wrong movie. 13th Floor is also really good as an exploration of the "simulation hypothesis," but the movie I had in mind that the Wachowskis may have partially ripped off was "Dark City." It's interesting to note that these three movies were all released within a few months of each other in 1998-1999 . . . almost like someone was trying to tell us about the new layers of Psyop BS that were about to get added to the Matrix after 9/11.
Indeed, although whether that's the power structure telegraphing its moves in advance in order to avoid violating free will according to some esoteric formula, or simply psychic premonition, is an interesting question.
Cloud Atlas was quite good, too. Some interesting ideas in that movie.
Will have to check that one out too. Now I'm wanting to re-watch Dark City, Thirteenth Floor, and The Matrix. Movies like those are to our culture what myths and epic poems were to the ancients, in terms of providing symbols and stories to make sense of intuitions about a deeper reality. I guess that era was a great one for Hollywood. I think Christopher Nolan's Memento was around that time too (also had a couple of actors from The Matrix), with some really interesting issues raised in that film about the role of memory (including false memories) in forming one's identity. Late 90s cinema was like a golden age of psychological and metaphysical metaphors.
Add to that list Ghost in the Shell anime. And if you haven't seen The Animatrix, I highly recommend repeat viewings. A pivotal scene is humanoid robots gaining person status at the UN.
Watching it recently I noticed the lingering focus on the Cypher character. In those scenes I see the Wackoffskys' approvingly contemplating the deal with the Devil that they later consummated themselves. A fantasy of the pleasures of the flesh, turning their back on reality. They might be the most open-eyed of the trans pervs.
The matrix is a terrible metaphor for the different dimensional realities. I think of it like multiple dimensions layered on top of each other. We do not live in the matrix, we live in purgatory in my opinion. The religious doctrine is not very well understood and lacks discernment in this regarding (the concept of) purgatory. We are born fallen, separated from God, spiritually banished/dead but still physically alive and capable of gaining redemption. therefore itтАЩs plausible that this dimension is purgatory. Boom ЁЯдп
All we've got are metaphors, some more useful than others, but none are precise descriptions of reality as it is. Somewhere at the intersection of the various ideas that run through the good metaphors, is something that, like a hologram, is an approximation of whatever is real. The Matrix isn't perfect, because no metaphor is, but it has something going for it, as a metaphor. Purgatory is another useful idea.
Wachowski siblings were so on the mark with the Matrix that the Matrix punished them by breaking their minds.
Indeed! By the way, have you seen The Thirteenth Floor? (A movie that may or may not have inspired The Matrix and that predated it by only a few months; apparently the Wachowskis had access to its script and some of the similarities are uncanny).
I've heard of it, but never got around to seeing it.
Did you see Jupiter Ascending?
I haven't. Will check it out.
I just realized I told you the wrong movie. 13th Floor is also really good as an exploration of the "simulation hypothesis," but the movie I had in mind that the Wachowskis may have partially ripped off was "Dark City." It's interesting to note that these three movies were all released within a few months of each other in 1998-1999 . . . almost like someone was trying to tell us about the new layers of Psyop BS that were about to get added to the Matrix after 9/11.
Indeed, although whether that's the power structure telegraphing its moves in advance in order to avoid violating free will according to some esoteric formula, or simply psychic premonition, is an interesting question.
Cloud Atlas was quite good, too. Some interesting ideas in that movie.
Will have to check that one out too. Now I'm wanting to re-watch Dark City, Thirteenth Floor, and The Matrix. Movies like those are to our culture what myths and epic poems were to the ancients, in terms of providing symbols and stories to make sense of intuitions about a deeper reality. I guess that era was a great one for Hollywood. I think Christopher Nolan's Memento was around that time too (also had a couple of actors from The Matrix), with some really interesting issues raised in that film about the role of memory (including false memories) in forming one's identity. Late 90s cinema was like a golden age of psychological and metaphysical metaphors.
Add to that list Ghost in the Shell anime. And if you haven't seen The Animatrix, I highly recommend repeat viewings. A pivotal scene is humanoid robots gaining person status at the UN.
Ghost in the Shell is truly excellent.
Watching it recently I noticed the lingering focus on the Cypher character. In those scenes I see the Wackoffskys' approvingly contemplating the deal with the Devil that they later consummated themselves. A fantasy of the pleasures of the flesh, turning their back on reality. They might be the most open-eyed of the trans pervs.
That's insightful. Hadn't considered the character from that angle.
The matrix is a terrible metaphor for the different dimensional realities. I think of it like multiple dimensions layered on top of each other. We do not live in the matrix, we live in purgatory in my opinion. The religious doctrine is not very well understood and lacks discernment in this regarding (the concept of) purgatory. We are born fallen, separated from God, spiritually banished/dead but still physically alive and capable of gaining redemption. therefore itтАЩs plausible that this dimension is purgatory. Boom ЁЯдп
All we've got are metaphors, some more useful than others, but none are precise descriptions of reality as it is. Somewhere at the intersection of the various ideas that run through the good metaphors, is something that, like a hologram, is an approximation of whatever is real. The Matrix isn't perfect, because no metaphor is, but it has something going for it, as a metaphor. Purgatory is another useful idea.
Language, and thought itself, are literally built from metaphors.
https://open.substack.com/pub/ascensionfromdarkness/p/jesus-neutered-the-devil-real-bad?r=25fg9s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web