What is real? In the 1999 movie, “The Matrix,” our reality is questioned. What if this world that we see, hear, touch and know isn’t real. As demonstrated in the still image and “Dream Sequence” from this movie, it is suggested that our world is made up of computer code–a virtual reality. In the movie, humans are plugged into a gigantic network of computers and interfaces, much like today. In American society it is more common to have a cell phone than not. In a way, we have become that reality where human are so wrapped up in technology that our reality is virtual rather than tangible.
As Vannevar Bush suggested in his article, “As We May Think,” he drew up the plans of a variety of technological advancements he said would soon take the world by storm. His Memex machine was the precursor of today’s desktop computer. He imagined how a man could make “trails,” or a history of searches and related material, and summon up that information onto a tablet with the touch of a button. Really, he produced sketches of the first human-machine interactive device. Since his time, we have only become more and more dependent and consumed by electronics. Televisions, smart phones, tablets, computers, et cetera. We are linked to our own personal technology from morning until night.
The “raining code” seen in The Matrix is a visual representation of how technology has been brought to us from the intellect of scientists and inventors. They bestowed upon us a great gift, which we abuse daily to argue with strangers and watch cat videos. That raining code shows that technology is a continuous stream of information that slowly but surely will consume our world as we replace the tangible with the virtual.