There is No Escaping the Matrix
In the video game world anything is possible, and if your player dies you can always play again. The videogame industry is exploding in the market place; it's far from child's play and far from the days of pong. In the most recent issue of Entertainment Weekly (December 6, 2002) there is an article, Video Game Nation, discussing a new video game experience being touted as the wave of the future, The Real World meets The Matrix. In this virtual world called The Sims Online, people "live" in a virtual environment peopled by avatars created by thousands of other gamers. Neal Stephenson envisioned this future ten years prior with his release of Snow Crash. Stephenson describes a computer-generated "metaverse" where the logged-on could take on "avatars" hang out, and walk around, meet other "avatars" and perhaps fall in love. These artificial realities offer millions of people a chance to step out of our world and enter another dimension where anything can happen. The setting may be artificial in nature, an electronic stream of data creates this artificial world for the player back home, but the interaction and the emotional appeal for the players are very real. When Neo is "reborn" we see where technology has taken us; it has enslaved us and uses us humans as a power source. Why not see that for what it is: a warning. We see computer gaming as nothing more than just escape. This is what technology offers people escape -- from this world, but is something being given up? Perhaps we should look at the nature of the beast and realize we are already enslaved. We are already there linked together in a Marxist fashion struggling for power, shelling out time and money to find solace inside the World Wide ...
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...real Matrix that is this planet if we spend all our time on the "net?" Perhaps the connected quality can translate into a more informed public, but I doubt the young players of video games would bother to take notice.
Stephenson's vision is accurate, we are becoming more connected yet live separate from each other; separated by tract housing, highways and the 'metaverse.' The future generation video gamers will experience more complicated and time-consuming games. This virtual gaming world offers them a place to explore beyond their world but at the same time keeps the players from this world. The love we have for machinery has only served to create the world we have today. There is no escaping the Matrix. Even at the end of the movie, Neo is still using the Matrix to communicate his intentions; we are still trapped inside the glass womb waiting to be set free.
Let me briefly explain a simplified plot of The Matrix. The story centers around a computer-generated world that has been created to hide the truth from humans. In this world people are kept in slavery without their knowledge. This world is designed to simulate the peak of human civilization which had been destroyed by nuclear war. The majority of the world's population is oblivious to the fact that their world is digital rather than real, and they continue living out their daily lives without questioning their reality. The main character, Neo, is a matrix-bound human who knows that something is not right with the world he lives in, and is eager to learn the truth. He is offered the truth from a character named Morpheus, who proclaims that Neo is “the One” (chosen one) who will eventually destroy the Matrix, thereby setting the humans “free.” For this to happen, Neo must first overcome the Sentient Program agents who can jump into anyone's digital body. They are the Gate Keepers and hold the keys to The Matrix.
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
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The advancement of technology is a controversial topic that has been debated since the start of technology. Perhaps it would not be so controversial if people did not let it seep into every aspect of their lives. If you think about it, we, as humans, need technology to function now. We use our phones and electronic devices much more than we probably should, in my opinion. I am guilty of it too, but I see no way of discontinuing my technology uses at this point in time. This is similar to the world Ernest Cline developed in his book, Ready Player One. Reading this book made it evident that everyone needs to come to his or her own realization that the real world is better than the virtual world.
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...The Matrix” and Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave” almost gives the idea that the movies writers may have had a lot of influence from Plato’s allegory. The creation of this movie gives and futuristic prospective of “The Allegory of the Cave” letting the people who have seen the movie think about reality and the truth. In conclusion, Plato’s story of the cave brings up many philosophical points and most significantly, addresses the topic of society’s role in our lives. On some level, we are all influenced by the thoughts and actions of everyone else, but at the same time, we as humans have the ability to question, make our own conclusions, and finally make our own choices.
The discipline of public relations is a modern profession which has been in existence for only close to a century; however, it has already taken an important role in the fields of business, government, entertainment and non-profit organizations including educational institutions and healthcare organizations. Public relations professionals are required to have excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills and have the ability to persuade the public. It is imperative for PR professionals to effectively communicate with its public in order to establish and maintain a positive relationship. Furthermore, public relations professionals must have the ability to work under pressure and effectively manage crisis which may have detrimental effect on the company and the public it serves. State purpose of paper and an overview of what will be covered in the introduction
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We are currently in an era where the profession of public relations is widely viewed as being “spin doctors” and hype can often eclipse reality. Most individuals see public relations as people who manipulate the public mind, rather than tell the truth. We are often accused of distorting reality, propaganda and withholding information. With these circumstances, you could have thought that “ethical public relations” was an oxymoron. Although not everyone is in tune with today’s public relation’s world, it is critical to assert a practitioners' beliefs of ethics in the practice of public relations. Being an ethical public relations practitioner is fundamental, especially when it is your duty to build trust and enhance stakeholders’ reputations.
Historically speaking the fate of world has always been called into the question. The same is true of commentaries on the state of mankind. T.S. Eliot’s "The Wasteland" is considered by many to be the greatest poem of all time. During Eliot’s time, the world was beginning to place more value on pop culture than high culture. Gone were the days where most were familiar with the works of the greats. The Wachowski Brothers’ film, The Matrix, deals with similar themes as "The Wasteland" . The science fiction film set in world that has been taken over by machines and centers around the plight of unsuspecting hero, Neo and other who have been freed from the computer simulated reality of The Matrix. Both worlds of “The Wasteland” and The Matrix center around the struggles the inner self faces when modern society no longer reliable for spiritual sustenance. It is the lack of spirituality in modern culture that leaves the masses starved intellectually and out of touch with historical and high culture.
Public relations practitioners are often described as an organization’s voice, positioning messages in the media to ensure the organization is perceived as beneficial, relevant, and credible. According to Zoch and Molleda (2006), this role is defined as “media relations” and is a pivotal aspect of the public relations profession. Two theoretical frameworks, agenda setting and framing are at the core of effective media engagement. Agenda setting is the process determining which social issues dominate public discourse, and framing is the way each issue is presented to the public (Dearing & Rogers, 1996; Hallahan, 1999). First, public relations practitioners use agenda setting to garner media coverage for its organization and its stakeholders