Exploring the Matrix : visions of the cyber present / edited by Karen Haber.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Haber, Karen.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Matrix (Motion picture).

Science fiction films--United States--Themes, motives.

Science fiction films.

Themes, motives.

United States.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

271 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, 2003.

Summary:

It is the beginning of the twenty-first century, and we are living on the cusp of change. Reality has already spawned one alternate state, and for many people virtual reality is now where they are most at home. But what happens when virtual worlds become indistinguishable from what we consider to be the real world? When you wake up from a dream, how do you know that you are not still dreaming? And if the reality we're in is virtual, who is doing the programming?These questions, and many more like them, spin effortlessly out of the box-office mega-hit The Matrix. More than just a computer-aided shoot-'em-up, more than just the latest cinematic expression of cyberpunk angst, The Matrix presented layer upon layer of challenging explorations of what the true nature of reality might be, and why this should (or should not) be important to us. Exploring the Matrix presents eighteen thoughtful and though-provoking essays on what the film had to say and exactly how it was said. Here you will discover the long and fascinating history of some of the themes set forth in the Wachowski Brothers' landmark film, why they are important, how they have been explored n the past, and their implications for the immediate future of human society. The true nature of reality in our current cyber-age is not a rhetorical question, but rather one that needs to be answered as we move closer to seamless virtual scenarios, accessible online, in video games ... and perhaps ultimately as the result of uploading software to an implanted chip in the brain. You can take the blue pill and stay in the dream, unaware of your status, or take the red pill and see just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Contents:

Introduction / Pat Cadigan

Every other movie is the blue pill / Bruce Sterling

The real matrix / Stephen Baxter

The matrix: know thyself / John Shirley

Art imitates life (yes, it's news) / Darrel Anderson

Literary influences on the matrix / Paul Di Filippo

More than you'll ever know: down the rabbit hole of the matrix / Kathleen Ann Goonan

The matrix and the star maker / Mike Resnick

Yuen Woo-Ping and the art of flying / Walter Jon Williams

Alice in metropolis or it's all done with mirrors / Dean Motter

The matrix as simulcrum / Ian Watson

The matrix as sci-fi / Joe Haldeman

Tomorrow may be different / David Brin

Revenge of the nerds, part X / Alan Dean Foster

Reflections in a cyber eye / Karen Haber

Meditations on the singular matrix / James Patrick Kelly

The matrix made me do it / Kevin J. Anderson

Dreaming real / Rick Berry.

Notes:

"A Byron Preiss book."

ISBN:

0312313586

9780312313586

OCLC:

51582068

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description