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Lab 1- The Matrix
#1) Here in the U.S. it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the oppressed from the oppressors. Although we have technologies that can aid the so-called oppressed (i.e. the internet and all the freedom that comes along with it.) There are still rules and regulations being imposed on internet users. The more advanced this technology becomes the more difficult it is to obtain; thus expanding the gap between the oppressors and the oppressed. I am in agreement with Jackson, for example in the movie when Morpheus and the others became unplugged they all feel a sense of liberation and rightfully so. They were able to think and act on their own. They were also in a way still oppressed because they could use the new media, but not live out their lives the way they truly wanted to because the matrix still had rules they had to follow.
#2) This means that not only is the information superhighway a way by which information is passed from one computer to another, but it should also be taken into account where within the computer this information is being held, delivered, or held. I mean these different places on the internet like work areas, chat rooms, electronic cafes plays a huge part in making up this superhighway. Without these places, then the information would just travel through the net without any destination or reason. This is seen in the movie when they use the telephone to travel to and from the matrix. There had to be a clear line. If not for meeting place or a return trip back to the ship then this back and fourth traveling would become useless.
#3) The authors said we enter an environment called cyberspace when we turn on our computers and click our mouse pad. The entire movie is some form of space whether it is virtual, physical, or nonphysical. Throughout this movie the characters are in one space or another, and depending in how you view it, will determine just what that space is. If you lean towards what the authors said in the beginning then the matrix to you would no doubt be called cyberspace. When they plug in that would be the equivalent of turning on your computer and clicking the mouse pad. If you are the type to view the matrix as Space and Metaphor then you understand how the movie relates to that idea. Like the authors say when we interact with others in these chat rooms or Internet forums we experience being in two different spatial environments. The place we are physically and the space we are nonphysical. In the movie when you were plugged in; your physical body was there on the ship while only your mind entered the matrix thus allowing you to experience a sense of “being here” and “being there” simultaneously being in the presence of two separate environments.
#4) In the movie presence plays an extremely pivotal role. The whole idea behind the creation of the matrix was to invoke presence. One of the most used concepts of presence throughout the movie is presence as realism. This concerns the degree to which a medium can produce accurate representations of objects, events, and people that look, sound, and feel like the real thing. In the movie the machines depend heavily on the realism of presence. The humans are made to believe that everything they experience in life is real