On Friday, Flora’s Friday Film showed The Matrix, a 1999 science fiction movie depicting a dystopia in which humans live in a computer simulation created by sentient machines to control humans.  Thomas Anderson (Neo) is a computer programmer who works at a highly-regarded software company, but believes that something is wrong with the world in which he lives.  He reluctantly joins Morpheus and his crew to escape from the Matrix after discovering the truth of mankind’s current state of existence.  A particularly striking technological advancement in the film was the ability for people to gain knowledge and skills (such as martial arts) from a wide array of disks.

The film raised several important questions, which we discussed with GRF Magdala after the movie.  For example, do people in the Matrix have control over their destiny, since they are in a carefully-programmed computer simulation?  As a computer science major, I felt a strong connection to the movie, realizing the impact software has on our lives.  In addition, this film is particularly relevant today, with the rise of virtual and augmented reality technology which enables us to enter other realities, similar to the Matrix.  The last topic we discussed was whether we would take the red pill (as Neo did to join Morpheus and the crew and leave the Matrix) or the blue pill (and return to our current way of life, living in a simulation).  I think I would exhibit the same reservations that Anderson did, but ultimately would take the red pill to try and free humanity.  What would you do?