Technological Determinism in the Matrix

Technological Determinism, a theory developed by Marshall McLuhan, is the belief that inventions in technology, especially communication inventions, has invariably caused cultural change. He believed that specific changes in modes of communication shaped human existence. The Matrix, a 1999 film by Andy and Larry Wachowski, does an excellent job of outlining the ideas behind McLuhan’s theory.

The Matrix is about a computer hacker named Thomas Anderson, who goes by the alias, Neo, who with the help of a band of freed rebels, discovers that the life that he has known to be real is nothing more than the Matrix, computer-generated dream world created by humanity’s own invention, cyber-intelligence. The purpose of this façade is to blind humans while their life essences are transformed into energy to feed the Matrix’s campaign of domination of the “real” world.

The central concept behind The Matrix is that the world humans believe they live in is in actuality, not the “real” world. Humans are controlled and influenced by forces they do not easily see. As Morpheus, one of the freed rebels and a main character in the movie, states that the Matrix is “the world they have pulled over your

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” He believes that we have unknowingly made a transition from a “tool-using culture” to a totalitarian-like culture that is “totally used by tools. ” In The Matrix, it is obvious that technology has become an overwhelmingly major influence in humanity. In the film, the humans are so locked in the false consciousness of the Matrix, that they completely forget what reality is and assume that the Matrix is their reality. Furthermore, the idea of major inventions such as the telegraph, has caused great change in society and has become a major dependence by humans is reflected in The Matrix by the characters’ dependence on the telephone and cell phones. McLuhan believes that the media is so realistic, that it becomes a tool that “intensifies” our senses and our bodily organs. ” To the humans that are trapped within the matrix, it has become such an amplification of their humanly senses that it has come to be the only truth and reality they know. The scene in which Trinity, one of the freed rebels, meets Neo for the first time and tells him that she knows everything about him and even is able to describe to Neo his “computer hacker” lifestyle. Its role in the movie is an exceptional example of McLuhan’s theory that the phone is a crucial invention that has changed life on Earth. McLuhan feels that humans are blinded by such technologies and begin to lose a sense of the real world, much like the humans in the Matrix who are lost in their fantasy façade that the cyber-intelligence has created for them. Just as McLuhan stated, “what we feel is more important than what we think. ” He stated that “instant communication has returned us to a pre-alphabetic oral tradition where sound and touch are more important than sight. McLuhan feels that humanity is so influenced by the media that it literally controls our daily schedules, activities, health, how we live. Neo is a prime example of McLuhan’s belief that “technology has caused change in culture. Just as McLuhan stated in his theory, the “dominant medium of any age dominates people.

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Approximate Word count = 1049
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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