01 Introduction
Although "The Matrix" was released in 1999, the Soviet Union had disintegrated and the Eastern European Group, the world's largest socialist group, had also collapsed. But the Matrix (matrix, matrix) of "The Matrix" is very much like the dream of the Soviets and Marx's vision.
The screenwriter and director of "The Matrix" obviously did not shoot this three-part series to reflect on the past and metaphor the US-Soviet struggle for hegemony, but to predict and reflect on the prospects that computers, networks, and artificial intelligence technologies will bring to mankind in advance. The story concept of the movie set the tone of almost all the relationship between artificial intelligence and humans in the 21st century. Later movies about artificial intelligence were basically within the framework of The Matrix.
The creativity and foresight of the screenwriter and director are not only manifested in some future sci-fi settings, but also manifested in his integration of artificial intelligence, virtual world, human brain and machine connection into Matrix, forming a super artificial intelligence system In ruling the world, it also cleverly combines system theory, cybernetics and "Bible" stories.
It is a pity that the screenwriter does not become a philosopher.
The story of the whole movie tells that in the future, intelligent robots control the world, but they still need human bioelectricity to provide energy (this setting is not rigorous enough).
So soak the human in the nutrient solution and plug in the data cable. In order to allow human batteries to run smoothly, they have developed a virtual shared world Matrix through these data lines. In this world, feelings of love and hate are real.
It feels real. Here, "The Matrix" extends an ancient skepticism proposition in Western philosophy: people may live in a false world, a world created by elves or demons. Descartes' "elves are deceiving me" and Putnam's ideas of "brain in a tank" are all shown in the film in the form of images and special effects. Not only a brain in a tank, but a group of people in a liquid. This group of people lined up one by one in a capsule-shaped closed cabin, like functional drinks on a container.
Their minds are stimulated by electrical impulses to live in the virtual world Matrix (matrix, matrix).
02 Story Setting
But this has not yet formed a problem, and if there is no problem, there will be no conflict. The super-intelligent machine "Architect" that designed Matrix (matrix, matrix) uses mathematical equations to solve the coordination problem between the operations of so many thoughts.
Therefore, in addition to designing a platform (operating system, that is, Matrix), we must also design various software programs to complete various functions, such as eating and drinking. These programs are human in the virtual world, but there is no physical machine counterpart. So now there are three things: Matrix as a platform, various programs, and human thinking.
But no matter how architects use mathematics and equations, instability will always occur. The system therefore periodically crashes. The specific manifestation of this collapse is that, first, some people in the liquid will eventually wake up, leave the virtual world, and discover the truth that a human being is raised like a pig (perhaps not as good as a pig). Second, the programs that are designed will also mutate. Some programs become independent and some programs become viruses. These mutated programs can even compete with architects. The image of an architect is a mathematician who pursues perfection and balance. In principle, he does not care about good and evil. This is the image of a Pythagoreanist. It doesn't want to kill people, but it doesn't want to save people either. Everything is just for harmony.
The system crash is caused by a virus. In order to be able to reproduce the stable system when the system is on the verge of collapse, it is necessary to appoint a savior among the awakened, who will fight the virus and repair the system loopholes. For exchange, you can save 23 humans to continue to multiply. The setting here is that one person must repair system vulnerabilities, and a new program cannot be used to repair vulnerabilities. The reason is probably because the program itself is the predecessor of the virus, and it is useless for the architect to add anti-virus software. Because the anti-virus software can't do anything when it encounters those mutated viruses, it will become a virus itself.
So the architect not only designed the Matrix, but also designed the restoration plan for the second floor. It sends physical machines to destroy those awakened physical humans, because sooner or later the growth of humans threatens the machines. But he can't kill all humans, because it needs one of them (Savior, The One) to fix the loopholes.
As a result, the humans under the ground are facing a cycle. Every time the Matrix needs to fix the loopholes, the robots start to massacre the awakened people underground, but in order for the savior to fix the loopholes in the Matrix, the last 23 people are allowed to remain. This keeps looping.
The great thing about the architect is that it counts the awakened into its first layer of Matrix to fix the loopholes in the Matrix. It uses awakened humans to fight against the awakening program (virus), and uses real world robots to slaughter real humans to force the savior (The One) to help it repair the system. Everything is in its calculations. This god is not angry, he is just a mathematician proficient in calculations.
But the architect is helpless, it has always been unable to solve the uncertainty and instability in the system.
In order to use the human mind, it designed Matrix, in order to run, it designed a software program, but the program will become a virus, but it can not use a new program to kill the virus, because the virus is a program, and it is more powerful The anti-virus program is very easy to be infected by viruses, so it can only use another kind of thinking entity that is different from the program, that is, people to kill the virus and annihilate the virus. This person is the savior, and he will die in the annihilation with the virus. .
The loopholes in the system are fixed. But after a period of time, the system will generate a virus, so some awakened people must be retained. These awakened people will wander in the Matrix, looking for people with special abilities, wake him up, train him, and become the savior. Then when the virus begins to spread, the architect will send robots to kill the human awakened, forcing the savior to help Matrix fix the loopholes, while allowing 23 people to remain. In this way, humans were preserved, 23 people continued to reproduce, the system was repaired, and most of the population was wiped out by machines. This cycle is endless.
But as the system became more and more complex, a prophet appeared. The prophet was a program, and she didn't want to loop like this anymore. But she didn't have the ability, so she decided to strengthen the most powerful virus (Smith).
She herself became the most powerful virus in history. This virus can destroy the system and even the architect. The architect had no choice but to let the sixth-generation savior (Neo, Neo, One's rewrite, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, the savior of Buddhism, Messiah, and Maitreya Buddha) annihilate the virus, and promised not to slaughter the human awakened, and only keep 23 personal.
Most people in the underground world of Zion survived. In this way, the prophet stopped reincarnation.
03 Ideological structure and religious significance
One thing that is very moving here is the courage of the savior and other human awakeners. They know that they are nurtured and that their resistance is also designed into the architect's plan, but they still struggle to fight for freedom. In principle, they can go back to the architect’s culture and live the real life in the virtual world (Matrix). But they still chose a dangerous free life.
Lu Xun said, "People cannot be nurtured." However, the talents in the cultivation fluid are the majority, otherwise Lu Xun would not have to jump out and say this.
The ideological structure of "The Matrix" is like this. This is a story of freedom and resistance. It is old-fashioned, but it contains system theory, cybernetics, information theory, computer theory, artificial intelligence, virtual world, and brain-computer connection. Science fiction settings.
However, in addition to this ideological meaning, there is a more religious meaning that needs to be explored.
The architect is equivalent to God, who created the virus (evil, Satan) and the savior (good, Jesus). It needs to use the conflict and annihilation of the principles of good and evil to run the Matrix system and maintain balance. If the savior needs action, he needs the help of a prophet (angel), who is the embodiment of love (the image of a woman, the Virgin Mary). But the prophet himself became the biggest virus, and the angels fell into Satan, which completely aroused the power of the savior.
The whole story structure is an ancient theme of the creation, fall, salvation, and resurrection of a religion. There is God, Satan, Jesus, and Prophet. And almost copied the terms of Judaism and Christianity. (Many sayings in Judaism are derived from the teaching of fire worship). It's just loaded with math and computer gimmicks.
The ending of the interdependence between humans and machines, as well as the reconciliation between the architect and the prophet shown in the film, eventually deviated from the emotion of resistance and turned into the emotion of reconciliation. "The Matrix" did not show a triumphant comedy, nor did it show a defeated tragedy, but became a drama of reconciliation. Of course, the savior (Neo) was annihilated with the virus Smith at his own expense.
04 The political significance of uncertainty
There is a problem that the author is particularly concerned about: the uncertainty of the system.
The Architect’s matrix system Matrix arranges everything in an orderly manner. Everyone’s choices and behaviors are pre-designed, and they all obey the architect’s design. They are just programs running. As long as you can see the background Data flow and code changes, then everything is just the mechanical effect of the law of causality under the binary system.
Those mutated small programs, seeing the code and data running in the background, can predict the behavior of those people.
They stand on their own as kings, dominate the system, and enjoy power. It even mutated into a virus altogether, and even tried to replace the architect. At the same time, among those who were originally just data streams, there will also be awakened ones, and one of them will become the savior.
Architects have created these good and evil individuals, and can predict them and their behavior, but there will always be some good and evil individuals who mutate, break through the system, use the system, and even break and destroy the system.
And since the sixth generation has been reached, architects still cannot fundamentally solve uncertain problems. Architects can only control and use uncertainty, but cannot eliminate it. Even in order to repair the system, it has to train the savior.
This is the helplessness of the architect (God).
There is a very significant metaphor in this. The deterministic system of the overall plan is bound to fall into cyclical breakdown, because it cannot handle uncertainty, and not only can it not, it also concentrates uncertainty. Architects use data and code to run in every place, and use causality to handle all movements, but the programs that run these individuals have become highly unstable and extremely capable. This is the source of the virus.
The more it must be deterministic and predictable in every place, the more it depends on running the program, and the more powerful the program becomes. Therefore, as long as the program is slightly disturbed and mutated, it will produce a butterfly effect and cause the entire system. The disorder or even collapse.
The procedure of arranging the movement of each individual in the matrix (various changes and operations of the matrix in mathematics) has become the biggest uncertainty, concentrated all the uncertainties, and even one day becomes the most powerful virus, even capable of Kill the architect.
This is what Tocqueville predicted: the new despotism, the highest power is constantly concentrated, but those who hold power are constantly being purged by latecomers. In order to avoid being purged by others, every power holder who purges his predecessor is more centralized. Centralization in turn causes more desires and fears to be attracted to the highest power, so he is purged more cruelly by adventurers.
Although "The Matrix" is not a political movie, its structure perfectly expresses the dilemma faced by a totalitarian system, and it also points out that the head of this system is very mathematician. Think about the Soviets’ fascination with mathematics, linear programming, and statistics. The earliest large-scale computer applications were the Soviets, and the Americans were latecomers.
There is only one solution to uncertainty, which is to disperse uncertainty. Uncertainty cannot be eradicated, and uncertainty is the root of innovation and freedom. Dispersing uncertainty is the only way to avoid the great harm caused by uncertainty, but also to use uncertainty to create new forms of survival and space.
Whenever the uncertainty is eliminated, the uncertainty can only be driven and concentrated in the procedures (institutions) that eliminate the uncertainty, making them the most uncertain place, as long as a little disturbance occurs in the center of uncertainty, the system will be A large-scale collapse will occur because other parts under strict causal laws cannot react autonomously and flexibly.
Paradoxically, this kind of collapse that occurred in the overall planning system was first used by Marx to criticize the market economy of the decentralized planning system, and his reasoning was that the crisis of the market economy was rooted in the fact that everyone only planned their own lives in a decentralized manner. , Lack of overall plan!
This is really the irony of two centuries. The success of the market economy operation lies precisely in its decentralized plan. Everyone only cares about himself. The so-called "anarchism of production". As a result, uncertainty is also scattered on everyone and every enterprise. Therefore, uncertainty makes innovation a lot. Every individual and company can try different explorations. Wrong innovations will be observed on a small scale and then eliminated. Uncertainty avoids great harm in the market economy system, and at the same time continuously stimulates innovation.
Regardless of the causes of the once-in-decade crisis of the market economy. But what crisis caused a famine? Which crisis caused population extinction?
It was precisely under the attack of certainism and other totalitarian economics that after the outbreak of the economic crisis, some countries were always taken over by these anti-market economy ideologies and corresponding political groups, causing wars and famines one after another. German national socialism, Japanese militarism, and even the Soviet Union after the First World War. After the outbreak of the market economy crisis, those who use a planned economy and a semi-planned monopoly economy to take over the country’s economic operations will never change into a country of brutal tyrants and mobs, first physically destroying domestic opponents, and then physically eliminating foreign opponents. .
As for the great famine and countless political cleansing campaigns in a populous country, everyone knows.
The absurdity of overall planning is often manifested in the attacks of people with this ideology on the decentralized planning system. They often regard the intermediate signals used for communication between different planners in the decentralized planning system as an uncontrollable and blind. , Spontaneous power. For example, they would say that capitalist society operates according to the "logic of capital", or that "abstract ruling society".
I don't know if they drive past the traffic lights, will they say that impersonal traffic lights are ruling the traffic, and whether they are big cars, small cars or pedestrians, they are all enslaved and alienated. Every day, people get up and go to work at a fixed time, but no one will say that they are ruled by the sun, feel that they are not free, enslaved, and alienated. But a certain doctrine criticizes price as a kind of slavery and alienation, but people believe it!
There is a crazy architect hiding in Marx's heart. He said in "Das Kapital", "The crappy architect has already been pre-formed in his mind before he builds his own building. But bees can't do it. "
In his mind, market economy and planned economy are the difference between bees and architects. The market economy is a spontaneous, unconscious, and unplanned form. It is naturally incomparable to a self-made, planned, conscious, and planned economy in mind. However, the bees build the hive by a group of bees, and this group of bees does not have the highest planner to guide them. They can complete the spontaneous division of labor with each other only by relying on their dance moves and smell, which is more than relying on a core building. The master’s plan can be completed by the cooperative human construction team. I don’t know how clever it is. The sadness of human beings is that they are gradually losing the ability to cooperate spontaneously, and they also criticize this spontaneous cooperation and praise the architectural plan that relies on the design of a core architect.
Another manifestation of the architect's mentality is the metaphor of the economic foundation and the superstructure. He could have used abstract terms such as economic foundation and superstructure to express it, but he just used the superstructure to metaphor the superstructure. Even if it is a building, a man-made building always has a lifespan and a time limit. If you don't understand this, people living in the building will die.
The overall planning system must like to use a lot of mathematical equations and linear programming. It requires simultaneous equations to find a general solution. This general solution can help it achieve equilibrium. The architect in The Matrix is a Pythagorean AI obsessed with the balance and general solutions between equations. Numbers are the origin of everything, and this is its belief. However, irrational numbers once frightened Pythagoras. It is said that the group of Pythagoras drowned the young man Hebersos who discovered irrational numbers. Obviously, the architect did not intend to learn the lessons of the Pythagorean school.
And its system has collapsed for the sixth time.
System theory has a theorem: there is always individual variation in the system. But it is so difficult to understand it. Difficulties do not stem from our mind, but from desire in our soul.
Although a certain self-proclaimed holism says "the whole is greater than the part" every day, they don't understand it. As we are in the whole, even if all of us consciously unite, we cannot control and plan the operation of the whole. Because not only is the part smaller than the whole, but the conscious addition of all the parts is still smaller than the whole.
The way to truly run the whole is an unplanned plan, a decentralized plan system that relies on intermediate signal communication.
The collapse of the overall plan constantly falsifies the absurdity of certain doctrines and continuously proves the scientific nature of the decentralized planning system. The decentralized planning system is based on the abstract rules of private production materials, intermediate price signals, and no preference. In this way, everyone's plan can achieve their own optimal or sub-optimal solution in the competition.
Architects don't understand this, because it is an AI with no shortcomings, it does not understand people, nor does it understand itself. It believes in and is obsessed with its general mathematical solutions and equation balance, waiting for it will only be the seventh time the system collapses. Moreover, its virus is stronger after every crash. Eventually, a virus will clean out the architect and become a new architect.
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