The matrix has you

Years after its final instalment exploded into cinemas, the Matrix trilogy of films – written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski – are still being hotly debated by academics and film lovers of every persuasion… despite the persistently wooden thespian Keanu Reeves, who took on the lead role of the messianic hacker demi-god Neo in humanity’s battle against cybernetic AI overlords.

Its relevance is more than obvious in the internet age, as a lot of us are plugged into social networking sites for most of the day, sometimes even on the go. Technology has become an overlapping – and all-encompassing – part of life. Hardly the refuge of tech-geeks and professionals, the internet has made it a very genuine social force, for better or worse.
Given this fact, it would be a bit of a waste to view this phenomenon solely through the lens of its bread-and-butter origins in IT and computing.

And in fact, two ostensibly divergent student groups will be uniting at the KSU Common Room on Friday, 11 February at noon to discuss all of this.

‘Real is just a four-letter word’ – organised in conjunction with the Arts Students Association (ASA) and ICTSA (The ICT Students Organisation) and The Philosophical Society – will tackle questions such as ‘what is real?’ and ‘are we in a Matrix ourselves?’, as prompted by speakers Chris Fenech, Joseph Facciol, Abigail Muscat, Sandra Dingli and Chris Staff, following a screening of three segments from the ‘Animatrix’ anthology of short animated films.

“The three organisations worked very well together. We found it very interesting that The Arts Students, ICT Students and the philosophical society could organise an event that could tackle both Science and Arts,” Karl Littlejohn, president of ASA, said. “It’s not every day that both arts and IT students can get together to tackle issues related to the future and technology.”

Lisa Young, president of ICTA, also said that the collaboration was an organic affair, since the root argument (‘can machines take over the world?’) was of interest to all, while the films provided an adequate springboard for discussion.

“It’s a great opportunity to learn something new in an interesting way, by applying it to a popular film. The topic is definitely something that can be explored and discussed at length without running the risk of ‘boredom’. Just look at all the movies that express this same idea in different ways: I Robot, AI, Terminator, the list goes on. The fact that so many popular films have dealt with this subject is evidence that people will be interested,” Young said.

“Science-fiction in general always contains a great deal of reflexivity and an awareness of philosophical themes,” Abigail Muscat, who will be contributing a philosophical outlook to the discussion, said. “But I would argue that the Matrix films were meant to be seen as both  an enjoyable science-fiction action film and as a very elaborate thought experiment,” Abigail continued, citing the fact that the Wachowski brothers themselves are “well-read” in philosophy, and that Bernard White – the actor who plays Rama Khandra in The Matrix sequels – encouraged Matrix fans to read the Bhagavad Gita (an authoritative Indian philosophical text) in relation to the film, making it clear that the films are, in fact, meant to be discussed in some depth.

Regardless of what Keanu may think of it all.

Follow the event on Facebook: seach for 'Real is a four-letter word'.