Re: MOVIE: Re: The Matrix

Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
28 Jun 1999 15:51:37 +0200

I liked it; I didn't expect great art or fantastic acting, just special effects with some transhumanism-related ideas put in. Actually I got a free ticket due to my involvement in the computer graphics world - watching the Maya 2.0 demos before was great fun, made you look more carefully at how the movie was made.

Matrix is a good action movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, and contains some nuggets of thinking that is rare in Hollywood these days. Of course I would have wanted more of them, but just the fact that ideas like downloading skills when needed get exhibited is a good step (of course, we have to deal with the prevalent AI==EVIL attitude, but that isn't the Matrix's fault). The overall message of overcoming the System that keeps us limited is transhumanist (just like The Truman Show). The importance as a vector for transhumanist ideas doesn't lie in gadgets or nanotech but in attitude.

I go and see movies a few times a year.

--


Anders Sandberg                                      Towards Ascension!
asa@nada.kth.se                            http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/
GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y