Gee, I saw the Matrix as definitely being our world now, today -- as was The 13th Floor, and Wag the Dog. What they are all talking about is the illusionary nature of "reality". Basic Buddhist precept, really -- and very apropos for our times. Forget the sci-fi razzmatazz. They're just trying to wake people up to the scam, the big lie. Watch Wag the Dog on DVD, and then watch the commentary that comes with it. Reality is a construct, built by our keepers. Tim May wrote:
By the way, I didn't take seriously the view that _we_ are living in a Matrix world. The film was ambivalent on the claim that _this_ world is a Matrix world: it was more plausible to buy the timeline Morpheus gives of how _our_ world becomes the "Matrix" world. That is, the events taking place are "really" a few hundred years from now, with the machines having set the "environment bit" to "late 20th century." I thought this was obvious. Maybe not. Normally I don't worry ovemuch about such subtleties, but it seemed to me some fraction of Bob Hettinga's hate-rant had something to do with the supposed conceit that _our_ world is the "Matrix" world. I didn't take it this way. Rather, I took it as a classic SF story, describing some _possible future_.
-- Harmon Seaver, MLIS Systems Librarian Arrowhead Library System Virginia, MN (218) 741-3840 hseaver@arrowhead.lib.mn.us http://harmon.arrowhead.lib.mn.us