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Human redemption in (and of) the matrix of technological modernity
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Human redemption in (and of) the matrix of technological modernity

I. Barns
Futures, Vol.37(8), pp.867-880
2005
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2005.01.006
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Abstract

Despite the indifferent responses to the second and third instalments of 'The Matrix' series, the trilogy is nevertheless a valuable contribution to popular debate about the human implications of a rapidly emerging technoculture. In this essay, I will develop a reading of the Matrix scenario, not so much as a cautionary warning about the folly of developing intelligent machines, but as a reflection on the moral meanings of becoming increasingly immersed in a technological milieu. I argue that whilst 'The Matrix', the first of the trilogy, depicts a simplisitic opposition between humans and machines, 'Reloaded' and 'Revolutions' open up a more dialectical understanding of human meaning in a technological world and instead explore the tension between two competing moral trajectories of technological existence: The first, the unfolding of a bleak, nihilistic instrumentalism, the second, a reflexive recovery of human relationship made possible by the renewal of a moral ontology of sacrificial self-giving.

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10 Arts & Humanities
10.290 Art
10.290.2240 Architectural Identity
Web Of Science research areas
Economics
Regional & Urban Planning
ESI research areas
Economics & Business
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