The Blurred Line Between Humans and Machines
The films of the Matrix trilogy pit man
against machine in a clearly drawn battle, but they also reveal
that the humans are more machinelike than they think, and that the
machines possess human qualities as well. The humans, for their
part, are as relentlessly driven as machines. Morpheus’s faith in
the Oracle’s prophecy, and in Neo, is unwavering and unquestioning,
and his own followers follow him automatically. Trinity’s loyalty
and attachment to Neo have machinelike constancy. Her actions suggest
her love, but her love expresses itself not so much as passion or
emotion than as ceaseless, frenzied activity. As Neo, Keanu Reeves
exudes an almost robotic calm, and both he and Carrie-Anne Moss
wear sleek, androgynous clothes. Their incredible fighting skills
and superhuman strength seem to put them in the machine category,
and their fluid movements are the result of programs that have been
downloaded into them. The Agents, by contrast, are fluid, adaptive,
and creative. They shift seamlessly throughout the programs and
listen intently to human speech, responding accordingly and sensitively. When
Agent Smith removes his glasses and orders the other Agents out
of the room in a decidedly unmachinelike manner so he can confess
something personal to Morpheus, he infuses his speech with human
emotions such as disgust and horror. Indeed, Smith seems to become
almost desperately human, and his endless replication of himself
is decidedly egocentric.
With the line between man and machine blurred to the point almost
of disappearing, the Matrix trilogy raises the
complicated question of how interdependent man and machine actually
are, or might be. One fear of artificial intelligence is that technology
will entrap us in level upon level of dependence, and in the trilogy
Neo discovers more and more about the thoroughness and subtlety
of the Matrix. Technology threatens to become smarter than humans, but
one larger point of the trilogy is that technology doesn’t have
to be smarter than us to enslave us. As long as humans turn to technology
to solve human problems, humans and technology are interdependent.
In the trilogy, the machines are dependent on the humans for life,
and they grow and harvest humans so they can continue to exist.
Though the reverse doesn’t necessarily follow—humans don’t rely
on the machines for their existence—the trilogy’s entire story hinges
on the fact that at one point humans needed artificial intelligence
for something, and so created A.I. to fulfill that need.
Fate vs. Free Will in the Matrix and the Real World
When Morpheus asks Neo to choose between a red pill and
a blue pill, he essentially offers the choice between fate and free
will. In the Matrix, fate rules—since the world is preconstructed
and actions predetermined, all questions already have answers and
any choice is simply the illusion of choice. In the real world,
humans have the power to change their fate, take individual action,
and make mistakes. Neo chooses the red pill—real life—and learns
that free will isn’t pretty. The real world is a mess, dangerous
and destitute. Pleasure exists almost entirely in the world of the
Matrix, where it’s actually only a computer construct. Cypher, who
regrets choosing the red pill and ultimately chooses to return to
the Matrix, views any pleasure, even false pleasure, as better than
no pleasure at all. Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, and the others in Zion,
of course, value free will and reality no matter how unpleasant
they may be. The Matrix trilogy suggests that everyone has the individual
responsibility to make the choice between the real world and an
artificial world.
Though Neo is the exemplar of free will, fate plays a
large role in his adventure. Neo relies on the Oracle, and everything
she says comes true in some way. If she can see around time and
guide Neo to the right decision at each encounter, he doesn’t have
to exhibit much, if any, free will. Morpheus tries to describe the
Oracle as a “guide,” not someone who knows the future, and at the
end of the trilogy she tells Seraph that she actually knew nothing,
she only believed. Nonetheless, the Oracle is always right, raising
doubts about how much free Neo actually has. In another way, as
an integral part of the Matrix, the Oracle’s intelligence and composure
lead her visitors to believe what she says, a trust that perhaps
renders her prophecies self-fulfilling. In this sense, she shares
the same final goals as Morpheus, Neo, and Trinity, and together
they actively shape the future.
The Relationship Between Body, Brain, and Mind
The Matrix trilogy explores the interconnection
between the body, the brain, and the mind, especially how that connection
changes when the world turns out to be an illusion. Two different
kinds of humans populate the world of the Matrix films:
ordinary humans and those who, thanks to a port in their head, can
be jacked into the Matrix. People in the Matrix can feel physical
sensations, which are created by the mind, and the Matrix trilogy
makes it clear that the body cannot live without the mind. If skills,
such as fighting skills, are downloaded into the brain, and if the
mind is free, a person can control his or her body as if he or she
actually has had these skills all along. The trilogy suggests that
humans need the body, brain, and mind working together simultaneously
to stay awake in the world, which, in a way, is a declaration of
the power of individuality and humanity. The existence or absence
of all three elements separates Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity from
not only the Agents but also the Architect, the Oracle, and all
the other Matrix-bound entities.
