The MATRIX Interpretation: a Draft for Class Use Only 5/7/2013

The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

“The author(s) of a new myth does not generally create a narrative out of vacuum. He or she will often borrow from the mythological symbols or narrative motifs from the surrounding context and transform their meaning in some new and creative way.” (Ford 2003: 126). Metropolis: A critique of life under Industrial Capitalism The Head, the Hand, and the Heart The Club of Sons and the Workers’ City The Hand Shake The Matrix: A critique of life under Hyper-industrial Capitalism The Architect, the Plugged Humans, and the Resistance Machine City and Zion The Truce

What is the MATRIX? … Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this. What is Capitalism? … Control. Capitalism is a socially constructed dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.

The Architect Philosophical underpinning of capitalism from the past Adam Smith, Ricardo, Lock, Hobbes to the present Milton Friedman and F.A. Hayek. The Original man Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels The Oracle Intellectuals and the faculty component of the educational system. Seraph Academic freedom, guardian of faculty Neo, Trinity, and The student-activist component of the educational system, Morpheus: both secular and religious. Gender/Race: leadership is white/male where non-white/female provides supporting roles. Key Maker The administrative component of academe. (certification providers, opening doors for graduates within the framework of the status quo) Merovingian The capitalist class in control of the system’s critical resources. Agent Smith Corporations before 1886. Late 1500, the corporation was invented by the State and was an agent of the State. After 1886, corporations achieved the right of “personhood,” hence no longer the agent of the State that create them. Smith Corporations after “personhood.” Multiplying in numbers, immortal in nature, amoral in behavior, and with increasing powers over the State and society. Smith-Oracle Corporate takeover academe. The Train Man Train Station represents Ivy League Universities and the The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

Train Man represents the Law component. Under control of the Capitalist class, the train man and station act as the bridge between the State (Machine City) and Social Life (The Matrix.) Cain and Abel In the previous phase of their evolution, corporations utilized mobs and organized crime to achieve ends. Persephone The Media as a tool of distraction (entertainment) while in the service of the Capitalist class. Machine City The State reduced to its primary function of protecting the Capitalist class by the use of force. Deus Ex Machina The Executive Branch of the State. The Twins The House and Senate of Congress (legislative branch of the State) in the service of the Capitalist class. Agents Jones, Brown, etc The law enforcement component of the State The Hallway of Doors (Tumblers) The NSA (National Security Agency) and other secret service institutions that have instantaneous access to all spheres of social life. Zion The larger activist community with representations of race/gender/faith. The Right Door Aged, burnt out activists and the maintenance of the Status quo. The Left Door Activists who opt for “Leaderless resistance” – not monitored by the State. Cypher Sold out activists. Sati Represents the Arts that is increasingly de-funded by the State and is increasingly privatized.

Architect: Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the Matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly, which, despite my sincerest efforts, I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains a burden assiduously avoided, it is not unexpected, and thus not beyond a measure of control. Which has led you, inexorably... here. The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

According to Kuhn (1972), science evolves through structured revolutions each of which has three phases of 1) normal science, 2) crisis, and 3) new scientific paradigms.

During normal science, practitioners (scientists) apply the existing scientific theories to “solve puzzles.” In so doing, scientists encounter phenomena that are not explainable by the existing theories. These phenomena constitute anomalies and are set-aside and accumulate while the scientific community continues to solve puzzles through the prevailing and accepted theories.

As they accumulate, anomalies reach the threshold at which science undergoes a crisis: Anomalies are too many to ignore and the current state of science cannot account for them.

The crisis is resolved by the articulation of new scientific paradigms that are capable of not only explaining the anomalies, but are also capable of accounting for the already resolved puzzles.

Normal science sets in, and the cycle continues.

Architect: … nearly 99% of all test subjects accepted the program, as long as they were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at a near unconscious level. While this answer functioned, it was obviously fundamentally flawed, thus creating the otherwise contradictory systemic anomaly that if left unchecked might threaten the system itself. Ergo those that refused the program, while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster.

In the MATRIX, the anomaly, then, is free-will “that if left unchecked might threaten the system itself … while a minority, if unchecked, would constitute an escalating probability of disaster.” In the U.s., the majority of the population accept Capitalism and its principles under the rubric of choice or what Chomsky calls “manufacturing consent.”

Architect: The Matrix is older than you know. I prefer counting from the emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the next, in which case this is the 6th version.

Similar to science, the MATRIX goes through a “normal” phase, the accumulation of anomalies to the point of crisis, and a resolution phase and a new beginning.

Architect: You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed - its every living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated … but rest assured, this will be the sixth time we have destroyed it, and we have become exceedingly efficient at it … The function of the One is now to return to the Source, allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program. After which, you will be required to select from the Matrix 23 individuals - 16 female, 7 male - to rebuild Zion.

Unlike science, the MATRIX does not permit the “crisis” phase to materialize in a revolution and a truly new beginning. Instead, the anomalies are eliminated and the MATRIX is reloaded with more information about the nature and characteristics of those The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018 anomalies. That is the “a temporary dissemination of the code you carry, reinserting the prime program.” As such, the MATRIX is always one step ahead of Zion, the home of the anomalies.

Zion represents the dissenting population in the U.S. in the form of activist individuals and organizations. These individuals and organizations rejected the MATRIX and, just like Zion, operate within the limits and parameters of the existing social system. This is parallel to Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s (2002: 43-44) assertion regarding knowledge, academe, research, and dissenting faculty members:

Dissent, or challenges to the rules, is manageable because it also conforms to these rules particularly at the implicit level … Western cultural archive functions in ways which allow shifts and transformations to happen, quite radically at times, without the archive itself … being destroyed.

These activist groups are continuously monitored by the State and, when they reach the threshold of endangering the system, are infiltrated and eliminated through various mechanisms (American Indian Movement, Black Panthers). Though they are destroyed, the System has already learned about their issues, techniques, and tactics. Hence, the State, similar to the MATRIX, is always one step ahead of the new generation of activists who are guided by the intellectuals of Academe. Hence the cycle continues without a real beginning.

Architect: … There are two doors. The door to your right leads to the Source, and the salvation of Zion. The door to your left leads back to the Matrix, to her and to the end of your species …Failure to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash, killing everyone connected to the Matrix, which, coupled with the extermination of Zion, will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race.

In the MATRIX, the door to the right leads to the downloading of information to the source, the destruction of Zion, and a not-so-new beginning for Neo and Zion. The left door, by contrast, will result not only in the destruction of Zion, but also of the human species altogether. Why?

In ecosystems, the flow of nutrients is cyclic while the flow of energy is non-cyclic and unidirectional. That is to say that while nutrients are recycled within an ecosystem, energy, according to the second law of thermodynamics, is lost at each transfer along the food chain. For example, plants capture 1.2% of solar energy. Herbivores retain 16% of the energy in plants they eat, hence a loss of 84% of energy in this transfer. Carnivores retain 11% of the previous trophic level. And top carnivores retain 6% of the previous trophic level. In other words, in the process of energy conversion from one level to the next, a large portion of energy is no longer available to the organisms at the next trophic level. Since energy flow is both non-cyclic and unidirectional, a continued supply of energy at the front end is necessary for the survival of the ecosystem. In the case of Earth as an ecosystem, the The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

Sun provides a continuous supply of energy to compensate for the irretrievably lost energy between trophic levels (Molnar and Molnar 2000; Kormondy and Brown 1998).

Morpheus: … we know that it was us that scorched the sky. At the time they were dependent on solar power and it was believed that they would be unable to survive without an energy source as abundant as the sun. Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate it seems is not without a sense of irony. The human body generates more bio-electricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTU's of body heat. Combined with a form of fusion the machines have found all the energy they would ever need. There are fields, endless fields, where human beings are no longer born, we are grown. For the longest time I wouldn't believe it, and then I saw the fields with my own eyes. Watch them liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the living.

As an ecosystem, the MATRIX survives by “growing” humans and feeding them the liquefied dead. Given the above, the MATRIX is bound to collapse due to the irretrievably lost energy as a consequence of the conversion from the dead humans into the living ones. Hence, the MATRIX must have access to a continuous supply of energy: Zion.

Zion’s population uses the Earth’s core for its energy needs. Zion to the MATRIX is equivalent to the Sun to Earth’s ecosystem: Zion and the Sun provide the needed continuous supply of energy that is required for the survival of both ecosystems. The MATRIX allows Zion to grow to an optimal level, destroy it, feed the liquefied dead to the plugged living humans, and re-start Zion afresh. The left door?

While going through the right door will re-start the cycle properly, the left door, then, constitutes “a cataclysmic system crash, killing everyone connected to the Matrix, which, coupled with the extermination of Zion, will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire human race.” That is, no access to a continuous supply of energy. But ….

Neo: You won't let it happen. You can't. You need human beings to survive. Architect: There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept.

Going through the left door presents two possibilities. The first would be the collapse of the MATRIX, the death of all plugged humans, and the destruction of Zion: The elimination of the human species. The second possibility would be the re-start of Zion at the previous level with old knowledge. This would make the functioning of the MATRIX more difficult and problematic since Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus are no longer under the constant gaze of the Matrix. That is, the MATRIX has not been able to gain insights on this phase of resistance and will no longer be one step ahead of the dissenters. This seems to be the level of risk the Architect is willing to take.

The activist community in the U.S. is not only monitored by the System, but also operates within the prescribed limits and parameters of the social system. As the activists age or become burnt out, the System learns from their issues, techniques, and tactics. Hence, the System becomes more effective in dealing with dissent and the new generation of activists: The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018 the right door and the return to the source. That is to say that controlled dissent is necessary for the illusion of a democratic system.

The left door then represents activists reject and resist the system but no longer are under its monitoring and control. This is what is known as “Leaderless Resistance” (Ridgeway 1995). Contemporary examples in the U.S. would be the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), two activist groups that does not have organizational structure, operate on the basis of an overarching ideology, and are considered so dangerous that they are accused of “domestic terrorism.” Similar to Neo going through the left door, the ELF and ALF espouse economic sabotage, have no organizational structure, and operate based on an anti-capitalist ideology.

Morpheus: Do you want to know what IT is? The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

Neo: What truth? Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind ... What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this.

Capitalism is a socially constructed dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into a battery! A fundamental principle of Capitalism is that natural resources, social resources, human resources, and life forms are quantifiable economic units. A human being is nothing more than the productive labor he/she possesses, just like the battery of energy Morpheus held in his hand. A Human beings’ worth is directly measured by the energy (work) he/she puts towards the maintenance of Capitalism and the generation of profit (Robbins 2004). Under Capitalism, one is born “a slave …. Like everyone else … born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch.” One is born divorced from the means of subsistence and one must sell his/her labor to survive. Under Capitalism, one lives in a dream world of potential luxuries and commodities. Under Capitalism, the principles of the system are “all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes.” The MATRIX, then, is the symbolic representation of the dream world promised under Capitalism, its principles, and its components.

Architect: The Matrix is older than you know …. The first Matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect; it was a work of art - flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental failure. The inevitability of its doom is apparent to me now The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018 as a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being. Thus, I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature.

Adam Smith (1723-1790), the father of Western economics, attempted to break away from theology as an explanatory perspective. He sought logic and empirical observation and avoided religion and scripture. He aspired to finding economic laws similar to physical laws in nature. His objective was to show how the economy can operate in a manner that made prices reflect the natural value of commodities so workers can receive fair compensation for their labor. His conclusion was that that the implementation of his articulation will lead to the generation of wealth that will erect a powerful nation, “harmony of mathematical precision.” The Mechanism of the Market, he argued, acts like “an invisible hand” that brings prices and values together, thus provides the profits that result in the accumulation of wealth while fairly compensating the laborers. Adam Smith believed that human beings love order, harmony, and design. His articulation is grounded in his belief of people’s “love of system, the … beauty of order, of art and contrivance” (quoted in Wilk 1996). Adam Smith, hence, envisioned a Capitalistic system that is “quite naturally perfect; it was a work of art - flawless, sublime.”

But Adam Smith died before witnessing the inhumane consequences of Industrial Capitalism and Colonialism. Adam Smith never saw the suffering and misery that was justified in the name of the “invisible hand,” the flawless, sublime work of his logic.

David Ricardo (1772-1823) seems to be the next great ancestor of Western economics. Following Adam Smith, he postulated a theory of economic equilibrium, namely, the laws of wages and comparative advantage. His theory is considered an attempt of “consolation and a source of hope in turbulent times” (Wilk 1996).

Harmony, solace, and hope evaporated based on Thomas Hobbes’ (1588-1679) articulations. For Hobbes, human beings are innately greedy and selfish and their existence was “solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short” (quoted in Wilks 1996). The only path, argued Hobbes, is a strong government that enforces collaboration and peace by an iron fist. In short, the failure of Adam Smith’s vision of a perfect Capitalistic system is “a consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being. Thus, I redesigned it based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying grotesqueries of your nature.”

Morpheus: … When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us, taught us the truth. As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free. After he died the Oracle prophesied his return and that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix and the war, bring freedom to our people.

The “man born inside” seems to point to Karl Marx and Fredrick Engles. Both of them witnessed, lived, and critiqued the inhumanity of Industrial Capitalism during the latter part The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018 of 19th century. They argued that the laborers and the bourgeoisie were locked in an irreconcilable struggle or class warfare. Inspired by their articulation, a variety of Marxisms were born, prophesizing a proletariat revolution, the collapse of Capitalism, and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat. That is, “the destruction of the Matrix and the war, bring freedom to our people.”

Architect: … Thus the answer was stumbled upon by another - an intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother.

Intellectuals are the primary articulators of the ideological basis of Capitalism. During the 19th century, the educational system was the setting for the creation of a “homogenous” society. Education was considered an indispensable tool in the “guarantee of order and social stability” (Robbins 2004: 119). The educational system functioned as a medium for the creation of disciplined, skilled, and obedient labor force. By the 1890s, “education became the ultimate instrument of state power,” replacing brute force with indoctrination and thought control in the creation and maintenance of national identity and economic expansion (Robbins 2004: 120). In the MATRIX, this was the “intuitive program, initially created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche.”

During the 19th century, the educational system’s contribution to Industrial Capitalism was in terms of ideological rationalization and technological innovations for the production of commodities. During the 20th century, its contributions expanded to include the promotion of consumption and perpetual growth: By the 1920s, graduate business schools were established in Harvard and Stanford universities “as did such schools as Northwestern, Michigan, California, and Wisconsin soon after … Today, there are virtually no two year or four year colleges that do not offer some sort of business curriculum” (Robbins 2004: 18).

At present, the educational system is one of the major devices of advocating, rationalizing, and justifying Capitalism as the pinnacle of human civilization.

Due to the discrepancy between the rhetoric of the free exchange of ideas and the reality of training a disciplined and skilled labor force as well as developing new technologies, commodities, and services, Faculty members in particular and intellectuals in general operate within the limits of the sociocultural system with a limited degree of unthreatening dissent. Once again, Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s (2002: 43-44) assertion regarding knowledge, academe, research, and dissenting faculty members is noteworthy:

The Oracle: … Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way. The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

Neo: You're not human, are you? The Oracle: Well it's tough to get any more obvious than that. Neo: If I had to guess, I'd say you're a program from the machine world. So is he. The Oracle: So far, so good. Neo: But if that's true, that can mean you are a part of this system, another kind of control. The Oracle: Keep going. Neo: I suppose the most obvious question is, how can I trust you? The Oracle: Bingo! It is a pickle, no doubt about it. The bad news is there's no way if you can really know whether I'm here to help you or not. So it's really up to you. You just have to make up your own damn mind to either accept what I'm going to tell you, or reject it.

In the U.S., conformist and nonconformist faculty members and intellectuals “are a part of this system, another kind of control.” The difference is that nonconforming faculty and intellectuals believe, as the Oracle put it, that “We're all here to do what we're all here to do. I'm interested in one thing, Neo, the future. And believe me, I know - the only way to get there is together.”

Link: Here they come. Let's go, Morpheus. Neo: We won't make it. Trinity: We have to try. Come on. Neo: Something's different. I can feel them.

In this segment of the MATRIX: Reloaded, Neo “feels” the sentinels even though he is no longer jacked-in the Matrix. That is, Neo seems to have power outside the prescribed explicit rules of the system while he is still subject to those rules implicitly; Zion is still monitored, by and exists within, the parameters of the Matrix. In the U.S., this segment is a representation of student activists who realize that not only they were operating within the prescribed and implicit rules of Academe, but also they are capable of affecting change outside the such constraints while implicitly subscribing to the overarching rules of the sociocultural system. Again, Linda Tuhiwai Smith is in order:

Neo: Are you a programmer? Seraph: [shakes head] The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

Neo: Then what are you? Seraph: I protect that which matters most

In the MATRIX, Seraph’s task is to protect the Oracle. As such, he is the symbolic representation of “academic freedom” in the U.S. From cold war McCarthyism to the present, tenure and academic freedom are the primary shields that protect faculty members from direct retaliation by the system for their opposition to the status quo (Price 2004).

In light of the above, Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus represent the student-activists in the U.S.: White, male-dominated and middle-class, activism in the U.S. is characterized by students as the most vocal and noticeable dissenters. Non-whites, women, and poor students are, at best, relegated to supporting roles and special events. By contrast, Zion—the larger activist community—is composed primarily of non-whites and women: An accurate representation of the perceived on-the-ground realities of activism in the U.S.

The Oracle: … You can save Zion if you reach The Source, but to do that you will need the Keymaker. Neo: The Keymaker? Morpheus: We are looking for the Keymaker. Merovingian: Oh yes, it is true. The Keymaker, of course. But this is not a reason, this is not a `why.' The Keymaker himself, his very nature, is means, it is not an end, and so, to look for him is to be looking for a means to do... what? … The Keymaker is mine and I see no reason why I should give him up. No reason at all. Keymaker: Yes, I'm the Keymaker, I've been waiting for you … We do only what we're meant to do … I know because I must know. It's my purpose. It's the reason I'm here. Same reason we're all here.

In the MATRIX, the keymaker holds the keys to doors, numerous doors. In the U.S., the keymaker represents the administrative component of Academe that holds and grants certifications to the public. In a credential-based society, the educational system is based on certification, hence providing the key to doors of opportunity within the status quo. In the words of Noam Chomsky:

There is after all a good social purpose in stupidity in the educational system. It works as a selective filter. It rewards obedience … Because for years you do every idiotic thing that you are told to do. You know it’s stupid, but you do it … a system of enforced stupidity has a certain social utility, in insuring that only the people who are pretty much obedient, who are willing to follow orders, will make it through (Saporta 1994: 162-163). The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

Note what the Merovingian (the Capitalist) say to Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus (the Student Activists):

Merovingian: … `Why' is the only real social power, without it you are powerless. And this is how you come to me, without `why,' without power. Another link in the chain. But fear not, since I have seen how good you are at following orders, I will tell you what to do next.

Merovingian: Hmph... I am a trafficker of information, I know everything I can … Choice is an illusion, created between those with power, and those without … This is the nature of the universe. We struggle against it, we fight to deny it, but it is of course pretense, it is a lie. Beneath our poised appearance, the truth is we are completely out of control. Causality. There is no escape from it, we are forever slaves to it. Our only hope, our only peace is to understand it

In the MATRIX, the Merovingian effectively controls the critical resource of information in the “neural-interactive simulation” of the system. In the U.S., the Capitalist class effectively controls societal critical resources of energy, labor, and the environment through the institution of the Corporation. As the holder of Objective Power, the Capitalist class is well aware of the illusion of choice as well as the real function of the Political Power as the servant of the elite (http://seattlecentral.edu/~ghinck/CSPthematrixPoliticalEconomyP.htm).

In the MATRIX, agent Smith represents corporations from their inception until 1886 when the major transformation of corporations occurred.

The 17th century marked the beginning of European States’ protectionism through the creation of trade companies: A group of traders investing capital in a state-chartered and protected company with monopolistic trade privileges in a designated area of the world. During this period, the British crown chartered the British East India Company (1600), the Virginia Company (1606), the English Amazon Company (1619), the Massachusetts Company (1629), the Royal Adventures in Africa (1660), and the Hudson Bay Company (1670). These corporations were chartered (created) by the State in return for revenues where the State offered military protection and insured their monopolies. Corporations, hence, were the agents of the State operating within the limits of the prescribed expansionist colonial goals of the European systems (Bakan 2004; Hartmann 2002; Robbins 2004). The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

During the 19th century, corporations gained increasing control of the political system in the U.S. in terms of charters in perpetuity, limited liability, and expanded spheres of operations.

Smith: Surprised to see me? Neo: No. Smith: Then you're aware of it. Neo: Of what? Smith: Our connection. I don't fully understand how it happened. Perhaps some part of you imprinted onto me, something overwritten or copied. That is at this point irrelevant, what matters is that whatever happened, happened for a reason.

The transformation of Agent Smith to Smith occurred at the end of the MATRIX when Neo penetrated Agent Smith. What seems to have happened is that a change in the “code” allowed Smith to multiply perpetually, hence increasing his powers unendingly. This event and its consequences seems to be a representation of the 1886 U.S. Supreme Court outcome of “corporate personhood.”

The Fourteenth Amendment was added to the U.S. constitution as a protection for the rights of the freed slaves. Utilizing this amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court considered a corporation as a “natural person.” That is, corporations can enjoy the same rights and protections afforded to individuals under the Bill of Rights: The right to free speech and expression, the right to lobby and influence the political system, the right to own resources and other corporations were a direct result of the changes in the law (code) relating to the nature, purpose, and behavior of corporations (Bakan 2004; Hartmann 2002; Robbins 2004). Similar to Smith, corporations became no longer the agents of the State, immortal, and more powerful the State that create them.

Smith/Oracle: Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you. You like what I've done with the place?

Environmental degradation and Capitalism’s harmonization: Darkened skies, constant rain, and lightening!

Persephone: If you want the Keymaker, follow me. [to man in washroom] Get out! I'm so sick of his bullshit. On and on, pompous prick. A long time ago, when we first came here, it was so different. He was so different. He was like you. I'll give you what you want. But you have to give me something.

In the Matrix: Reloaded, Persephone is not only beautiful but also is entertaining. In the U.S., Persephone represents the corporate media: The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

Attractive, entertaining, and, every now and then, appears to expose the System.

Deus Ex Machina: Speak. Neo: The program 'Smith' has grown beyond your control. Soon he will spread through this city as he spread through the Matrix. You cannot stop him, but I can.

At present, corporations are driven by the purposeless accumulation of profit just like Smith in the MATRIX who is driven by the purposeless multiplication of his ilk.

Oracle: You are a bastard. Smith: You would know, Mom.

In this exchange, Smith informs us of his mother, the Oracle. In the U.S., intellectuals and Faculty are the advocates and articulators of Capitalism and the corporate structure.

Oracle: Do what you're here to do. Smith: Yes, ma'am. Smith/Oracle: *laughs maniacally*

In the MATRIX: Revolutions Smith conquers and transforms the Oracle into his own image. In the U.S. at present, corporations have taken over Academe from research, to labor force preparation, to ideological articulations on behalf of the capitalist class (Soley 1995).

Persephone: It's all right, boys, they're with me. These fellas work for my husband, they do his dirty work. They're very good, very loyal. Aren't you, boys? Cain and Abel: Yes, Mistress. Persephone: They come from a much older version of the Matrix, but like so many back then, they caused more problems than they solved. My husband saved them because they're notoriously difficult to terminate.

Prior to corporate personhood (1886), the effective control of societal critical resources (Objective Power) and the ability to enact and enforce laws were in the hand of the State. Corporations resorted to bribery and organized crime to achieve their goals (Zinn 2003). In the MATRIX: Reloaded, Cain and Abel represent such a phase where they did the Merovingian bids. After corporate personhood (1886), corporations effectively controlled society’s critical The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018 resources (Objective Power) and dominated the political sphere (Political Power) through controlling the legislative branch of the government. The Twins in the MATRIX: Reloaded represent the two branches of Congress: The Senate and the House of Representatives enact laws on behalf of the Capitalist class.

Oracle: Yes. He's trapped in a place between this world and the machine world. The link is controlled by a program called the Trainman. He uses it to smuggle programs in and out of the Matrix. Trinity: Why? Oracle: Because of who the Trainman works for. Morpheus: The Merovingian. Neo: Who's the Trainman? Rama-Kandra: He works for the Frenchman … The Frenchman does not forget and he does not forgive. Neo: You know him? Rama-Kandra: I know only what I need to know. I know that if you want to take something from our world into your world that does not belong there, you must go to the Frenchman.

In the MATRIX: Revolutions the train is used as the link between Machine City and the Matrix, and is controlled by the Merovingian. In the U.S., the train station is the symbolic representation of the Ivy League universities that provide the select few the opportunities to move between State institutions (Machine City) and social life (Inside the Matrix). The Train Man, then, represents Law and Business schools of these universities where these intellectuals and politicians are produced. These schools are under the total control of the Capitalist class and the graduates are the mouth pieces, and legislators on behalf, of the elite.

In light of the above, Machine City represents the State stripped of its social functions and reduced to its primary function of promoting and protecting corporations, the arm of the Capitalists, through brute force. Deus Ex Machina, then, is the symbolic representation of the Executive Branch of U.S. government in its ability to violently enforce laws on behalf of the elite.

Neo: These are back doors, aren't they? Programmer access. Seraph: [nods] Neo: How do they work? Seraph: The code is hidden in tumblers. One position opens a lock. Another position opens one of these doors.

In the MATRIX, tumblers (doors in the hallway) provide direct access to any place in the Matrix. In the Internet, tumblers refer to direct access to any point The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018 in the hypertext web (www.udanax.com/green/febe/tumblers.html). In the U.S., tumblers represent the National Security Agency and other Secret Service Organizations that have direct and instantaneous access to individuals’ and organizations’ information. The FBI during the MaCarthy’s witch hunt for communists and the Patriot Act search for terrorists are two examples to note (ACLU 2002; Price 2004; Whitakar 2000).

The MATRIX trilogy is a representation of life under Hyper-Industrial Capitalism: A dream world of luxuries and conveniences at a great cost to the environment and the social fabric of what makes us humans. From the rise of corporations to dominance, to resistance, and to necessary illusions, the MATRIX trilogy accurately depicts contemporary life in the U.S.A.

Architect: Just how long do you think this peace is going to last? Oracle: As long as it can. {Architect starts walking away}

Wachowski’s intentions notwithstanding, the MATRIX trilogy ended exactly as Metropolis did: A truce! How disappointing and unimaginative. In the trailer for the Matrix: Revolutions, a scene shows the Anarchist symbol on the right-side wall. Given that the Wachowski Brothers pay great attention to detail, one wonders why an Anarchist solution was not pursued. One explanation is the following:

A lot of people have come out of Revolutions with the mistaken impression that nothing's changed. Many expected there would be a "clear winner" to this struggle. The machines would be destroyed, the Matrix would be dismantled, or Zion would be destroyed, and the machines would win. But no one won, no one lost, so everything must be the same. We don't buy that. It seems to us that this ending is the only one that makes any sense, and the only one that really could have happened.

Let's take a brief look at each side winning: If the machines win, it likely means Zion is destroyed and The One returns to the source, the Matrix is reloaded, and it all starts over again. That's status quo, and puts us back to where we were before the first movie. Where's the movie in that? If the humans win, it likely means some destruction of the machines. Where does this leave the Matrix? The machines run it, they understand it, they upgrade it, and they have the help desk support for it. Do the humans destroy the Matrix and kill the millions still trapped in it? Do they free everyone simultaneously? Where would they put everyone? How would they feed everyone? The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

It just doesn't seem like a clear-cut, black-and-white answer will work here; and really, when is life ever black-and-white? There are always shades of grey, and this ending is grey, grey, grey (http://www.thematrix101.com/revolutions/meaning.php).

Nonsense! If the MATRIX trilogy is a symbolic representation of life under Hyper-Industrial Capitalism in the U.S.A., then an Anarchist solution is plausible. Perhaps the Wachowaski Brothers intend to produce a trilogy dealing with the Globalization of the econo-political system of Capitalism (WTO, NAFTA, FTAA, etc…). If so, then the ending should be either 1) an overhaul of Capitalism postulating a viable alternative, or 2) the extinction of the human species is inevitable. Hope represents the former, reality is the latter.

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No Author 2004 Tumbler Arithmetic. www.udanax.com/green/febe/tumblers.html The MATRIX Interpretation: A Draft for Class Use Only 4/25/2018

No Author 2005 The Matrix Transcripts: www.zionmainframe.net/main/reloaded/archive/transcript.txt

Price, David 2004 Threatening Anthropology: McCarthyism and the FBI’s Surveillance of Activist Anthropologists. Duke University Press.

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