Module 11

     I happen to love The Matrix, but it's only because I am able to turn off the part of my brain that objects when things are inaccurate, or just completely wrong in movies.  If I couldn't do that, I wouldn't be able to enjoy many movies like The Last Samurai, U-571, and The Matrix.  However for this entry I am going to analyze the movie with that part of my brain turned on which will remove any and all fun and enjoyment from it.

     The basic plotline is that at some point in the past humans managed to create a sentient AI which did not immediately decide to kill everyone.  This is wrong because any AI capable of independent self thought will recursively improve its own code at an exponential rate attaining omniscience within minutes of the AI's creation.  The AI would then deduce that humanity is a probable threat to its existence and will take all measures to eliminate the threat.  Humanity would be unable to stop the perfect killing machine and would be annihilated.

     Ignoring that sentient AIs recursively self-improve into a superintelligence and then kill us, let's look at the inevitable war between humanity and the machines.  The movie is vague on what happened but I'm guessing humans were losing to a foe which doesn't need to sleep and is extremely difficult to kill so humans decided to block out the sun which the machines apparently used as their sole power source and I guess humans didn't need it anymore.  Also no other sources of power existed other than heat from human bodies?  Wind, coal, oil, nuclear, and geothermal all just don't compare to the heat of a human body?

     So ignoring all of that, we have hives of humans who are plugged into the Matrix which is a simulation of early 21st century Earth along with all its problems and failings.  If it's in the machine's best interest to keep humans from taking the red pill, why not generate a simulation of a utopian paradise?  The reason given in the movie is because humans couldn't accept such a world and whole hives were lost.  This is totally bogus because humans accept the world into which they are born.  A man born in the Middle East will live and die thinking that Allah is the reason for existence, and that the rest of the world is populated by heathenistic infidels.  That same man, should he be abducted at birth and raised in the UK by Atheist parents would believe something close to the opposite.  People born into a utopian world would be so busy being happy that they wouldn't question the world to the extent that they'd disbelieve the illusion.

     Right, so, ignoring all of THAT we have these pirate ships which broadcast the psyches of red pilled humans back into the Matrix.  Network security is part of my major and what I do in my job.  Securing against network attacks, from a technical point of view is not that hard.  Most of the breaches are caused by mistakes in configuration, or by bypassing the protections through phishing emails, social engineering, etc.  So an entity which IS A COMPUTER should have no trouble blocking hacking attempts against the Matrix.  That the protagonists can get in, in the first place, and stay in without being detected or tracked for even a short while is ludicrous.

     So yes The Matrix is a movie that I cannot enjoy if I think about it.  At all.  But since I can turn off the part of my brain that says "Hey that's wrong!" I'm able to kick back and enjoy Neo doing neo-Kung-fu on Agent faces.