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Comparisons between The Matrix and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
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Comparison of The Matrix and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Andy and Larry Wachowski's movie, The Matrix parallels many of the characters and themes that are explored in Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
There are five main characters or groups of people that are explored in Dick's novel. First, Morpheus, the leader of the "unplugged" individuals, emulates the role that the Rosen Association plays. Next, Cypher, an underhanded man, who is comparable to Rachel Rosen, a typical android, shows no empathy towards anyone. Surprisingly, Rick Deckard, an android killer and the main character, resembles the "agents" in The Matrix. Following Rick, the androids represent the enlightened men and women in The Matrix. Lastly, John Isidore, an unintelligent man, symbolizes the mass amount of people plugged into the Matrix.
On a grander scale, the Matrix itself is very much like Mercerism, a way of life, which is explored in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. In addition to this, both futures contain the results of world-wide-wars. To start, the Rosen Association, an android producing and harboring organization, compares to Morpheus in a variety of ways. The Rosen Association creates new androids just as Morpheus frees minds. Neither of which, are easy tasks. Rick is talking with the head of the Rosen Association, Eldon Rosen, about a test he needs to perform on some androids. Eldon complies with Rick, but he explains to him that it is not that easy, "We can't just phone down to production and ask for a diverse flock of items"(44). Androids are very complex and cannot just be mass produced.
Morpheus has a similar problem. Humans are also extremely complex. It is dangerous to free a mind that i...
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...p? and The Matrix, both contain futures that are strikingly similar in a number of ways. Primarily, the characters in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? match up perfectly with those in The Matrix. Dick's characters and creations: The Rosen Association, Rachel Rosen, Rick Deckard, the androids, and John Isidore resemble Morpheus, Cypher, the "agents," the "unplugged," and the people plugged into the matrix respectively. Interestingly, both stories involve global warfare. Finally and most obviously, Mercerism and the matrix itself serve the same exact purpose, which is to blind people from the truth in oder to control them with more ease.
Works Cited
Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. New York: Ballantine Books, 1968.
Matrix, The. Dir. Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski. Perf. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne. Film. Warner Brothers,1999.
The Matrix is a current movie and the Bible is a piece of inspired literature that has withstood scrutiny throughout the ages. The Matrix has many biblical themes and it parallels the Bible in numerous ways.
In one of Plato’s works called The Allegory of the Cave he goes over what it means to get higher knowledge and the path you have to take to get to this higher knowledge. Plato also goes over how this higher knowledge or enlightenment will affect people and how they act. He ties this all together through what he calls the cave. Plato tells Glaucon a sort of story about how the cave works and what the people within the cave have to do to get to the enlightenment. A while down the road the Wachowski siblings with the help of Warner Brothers Studios made a movie titled The Matrix. This movie follows the came concept that Plato does in the cave. With saying that the world that Neo (the main character) was living in was in fact not real but a made
These matrices apparent in The Matrix and Dick’s novel are not much different then the matrices we encounter in our lives. Deckard and Neo represent you and me. Everyone is trapped in different matrices in their lives. By identifying those matrices and working through them we are able to grow as human beings. Every day we slowly recline into our chairs, the rods are jammed into the back of our skulls, and we plug into our reality. Within our own different matrices we struggle to define who we are or better yet, why we are here.
...le Attack at SeaWorld: How It Happened.” Time U.S. 25 Feb. 2010. Web. 5 March 2014.
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly referred to as ALS, is a disease that can alter the daily life of a human in monumental and unending ways. In one of her articles about ALS, Caroline Ingre (2015) states that the disease is a “fatal neurodegenerative disorder” and further supports this by noting how the disease is marked by the degeneration in motor neurons in the brain, brainstem, and spinal cord (p. 181). This basically means that
The Matrix series is much more than an action-packed sci-fi thriller. After one view of this film for the second and third time, we start to notice a great deal of symbolism. This symbolism starts to paint a completely different picture than the images of humans battling machines. It is a religious story, with symbols deeply set in the Christian faith. The Matrix contains religious symbolism through its four main characters, Morpheus, Neo, Trinity and Cypher. In that each character personifies the “Father,” the “Son,” “Satan,” and the “Holy Spirit” of the Christian beliefs only shown through the amazing performances of the actors. A critic by the name of Shawn Levy said "The Matrix slams you back in your chair, pops open your eyes and leaves your jaw hanging slack in amazement."(metacritic.com)
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is an adult onset neurodegenerative disease. It is characterized by the death of motor neurons in the motor cortex, brainstem, and spinal cord. 90% of all cases of ALS are sporadic with no familial history, while 10% of cases of ALS have familial history. 20% of cases of familial ALS cases are linked to mutations in the SOD1 gene. Currently, the pathogenesis of the disease is unknown. However, multiple studies show that there are several mechanisms contribute to the progression of the disease. These include mitochondrial dysfunction, glutamate excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, axonal dysfunction, reactive astrocytosis, protein aggregation, and mutant SOD1 expression.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurological disorder that affects roughly one in 200,000 people (DiDonato et al., 2003). As such, ALS is among the most common neurological disorders found in humans. It typically occurs mid-life and kills motor neurons, which leads to paralysis and death. Most cases of ALS do not show a genetic linkage. However, five to ten percent of cases are, in fact, inherited in an autosomal recessive manner (DiDonato et al., 2003). This inherited ALS is referred to as familial ALS (FALS), and twenty percent of these cases are connected to mutations in the SOD1 gene.
Lou Gehrig’s Disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a collection of rare neurological diseases that affect the motor neurons that control the voluntary muscle movements. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative illness that affects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. ALS is a disease that belongs to a wider group of disorders that are known as motor neuron diseases. This is caused by gradual deterioration and the death of motor neurons. ‘Amyotrophic’ comes from the Greek roots that mean ‘without nourishment to muscles’. ‘Lateral’ means ‘to the side’ and refers to the position of the destruction in the spinal cord. ‘Sclerosis’ means the hardening of the spinal cord.
Well ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis “A-” meaning no, “myo-” meaning muscle, and “-trophic” meaning nourishment. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that weakens the muscles and affects movement of the muscles. Some main factors that seem to trigger ALS is either a genetic predisposition or repetitive head trauma. The disease seems to only affect the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord and attacks the motor neurons (which are responsible for movement). Doctors can diagnose somebody with the disease with either brain scans or blood work. After the diagnosis the body will start to quickly deteriorate. Early symptoms of ALS is that your muscles start to weaken
The Matrix, when compared to Plato’s The Republic (“The Allegory of a Cave”), and Descartes’s Meditations on First Philosophy has numerous similarities and a few differences. It would seem that the creators of The Matrix were inspired, to an extent, by these writing of Plato and Descartes. Although each of these display it in a different way, the root of each of them is the desire of knowledge and truth rather than being deceived.
Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? compares humanity to androids. The novel calls into question what makes these two seemingly disparate beings contrarily similar to each other. Although humans would like to believe they are the superior race, humans are not any different from a programmed machine.
In the novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick and in the motion picture The Matrix, by the Wachowski brothers, both stories enclose worlds that relate because the humans are repressed against their will and are living under the parameters of machines. In each, the worlds are slightly different, in, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The inhabitants opt to enter an altered world where machines control their consciousness. As opposed to The Matrix, the world is controlled by machines, which suppress the populace and hold them against their will. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? the altered reality has been created on the people's general will and it is their own construction but in the other case, in The Matrix, reality is a creation based on the technology without the human's perception. In both cases the communities' world can be considered artificial, but it is clear that in one, humanity is further imprisoned. To begin, citizens of both of these societies remain dependent to a faith by which contemporary equipment is a requirement. In The Matrix, the rebellious Neo and Morpheus, the two main characters, enter this virtual state by hooking up wires directly to their brain, "Morpheus guiding a coaxial line into the jack at the back of his [Neo] neck He [Neo] relaxes, opening his eyes as we pull back to a feeling of weightlessness inside another place." Neo and Morpheus are capable to enter a virtual world whenever they please. Nonetheless, in the saga of The Matrix, Neo and Morpheus are renegades disengaged by the rule recognized by the regulating technology. They are part, of a group of few, that can release themselves from the false reality of the "Matrix". The rest of the public are stuck in this dream and unfortunately cannot enter and leave as they please. As opposed to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in which it is the people's decision whether or not they would like to enter this altered state. They use this virtual reality to correspond with their God Mercer, an evident leader, who is the ruler and controller of the Mercerism. To gain this opportunity the willing participant enters a virtual world through a device called the "Empathy Box ." With that process, the people will always be able to connect with Mercer. John Isidore, a character in the book, who enters this virtual reality recurrently with his own free will.
Caudron, S. "Can Generation Xers be Trained?" Training and Development 51, no. 3 (March 1997): 20-24.
The post-apocalyptic future in Phillip K. Dick’s novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, is set in a science-fiction world. It functions by dehumanizing people through institutionalized dependency and a false sense of connectedness, while alienating androids for their inhuman qualities. Dick uses this dichotomy to inspire his readers to consider both what it is that makes us human, as well as what it is that makes us not. The book is rife with irony and social satire. The protagonist, Rick Deckard, is a bounty hunter on a mission to wipe out rogue androids. He uses a peculiar contraption called a Voigt-Kampff test which supposedly measures the empathetical response to multiple questions, thus proving ones humanity. The Voigt-Kampff test