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The Merovingian throws a much better rave than Morpheus.
November 5th, 2003
I'm not going to bother saying too much about Revolutions, except I seem to be in the minority by thinking it was quite good. (The first 15 minutes are pretty choppy, but it gets better.) (Oh and a little non-spoiler rant: AAAAAAAAA PLEASE DON'T GRIND THE EXPLOSIVES IN A METAL MORTAR WITH A METAL PESTLE!)
I've been thinking more about Zion's power structure. I still like the image of the elite manipulating the religion of the plebians to form power structures based on the popularity of their personal cult. This led me to something important while watching Revolutions: The most powerful people we see in Zion all have jacks, but their children won't. Unable to enter the matrix, they would be prevented from holding many positions. Unable to learn new skills instantly, they would be at an amazing disadvantage compared to fresh recruits. Likewise, the powerful are all first generation freed humans. Their only connection to Zion is one of desperation, with little to no cultural values shared with the people around them. Terminal cases of future shock.
These would have to have profound sociological implications. What priority would education get, if the children of the elite never have a chance of being powerful themselves? How much of the stability and self-improvement of civilization is due to power people wanting their children to be powerful? How much of it is due to the powerful feeling a deep and personal connection to their society? I don't know, but I suspect quite a bit. Zion would have none of that.
So the question is, are there positions of power for people without jacks? Is it established either way if the council members have jacks? I'll note that they seem remarkably willing to leave the ship captain's autonomy untouched. I'm completely unclear on what the relationship there actually is, much less what it is supposed to be.
I've been thinking more about Zion's power structure. I still like the image of the elite manipulating the religion of the plebians to form power structures based on the popularity of their personal cult. This led me to something important while watching Revolutions: The most powerful people we see in Zion all have jacks, but their children won't. Unable to enter the matrix, they would be prevented from holding many positions. Unable to learn new skills instantly, they would be at an amazing disadvantage compared to fresh recruits. Likewise, the powerful are all first generation freed humans. Their only connection to Zion is one of desperation, with little to no cultural values shared with the people around them. Terminal cases of future shock.
These would have to have profound sociological implications. What priority would education get, if the children of the elite never have a chance of being powerful themselves? How much of the stability and self-improvement of civilization is due to power people wanting their children to be powerful? How much of it is due to the powerful feeling a deep and personal connection to their society? I don't know, but I suspect quite a bit. Zion would have none of that.
So the question is, are there positions of power for people without jacks? Is it established either way if the council members have jacks? I'll note that they seem remarkably willing to leave the ship captain's autonomy untouched. I'm completely unclear on what the relationship there actually is, much less what it is supposed to be.
The Concorde destined to become the Boeing Museum of Flight's latest lawn ornament arrived today. It was supposed to land at 15:00, so ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vixyish and I went down with 45 minutes to spare. After some ATM hunting antics, we had 30 minutes to spare. Plenty of time. So we're driving down East Marginal Way, the main access road for Boeing Field, and we start to see crowds of people.
"Heh," we say to each other. "Look at all the people waiting for the Concorde."
"That's odd," we say. "There is 30 minutes to go, yet everyone is facing the same way. Many of them are pointing or shielding their eyes from glare. And some of them seem to be taking pictures of the empty air above the far end of the runway, as if that particular space contained something of interest."
"Maybe it's just me," one of us says. "But I think I see a large plane on final approach."
"You're right," says the other. "It sure has a triangular profile. It kind of reminds me of the Greek letter delta."
So we swerve across traffic into the nearest parking lot that bordered Boeing Field, come to a screeching halt, jump out of the car and see:
(Image links to a full resolution version, 815K in size.)
In conclusion, yay for the minor mutant superpower of amazing timing.
vixyish and I went down with 45 minutes to spare. After some ATM hunting antics, we had 30 minutes to spare. Plenty of time. So we're driving down East Marginal Way, the main access road for Boeing Field, and we start to see crowds of people."Heh," we say to each other. "Look at all the people waiting for the Concorde."
"That's odd," we say. "There is 30 minutes to go, yet everyone is facing the same way. Many of them are pointing or shielding their eyes from glare. And some of them seem to be taking pictures of the empty air above the far end of the runway, as if that particular space contained something of interest."
"Maybe it's just me," one of us says. "But I think I see a large plane on final approach."
"You're right," says the other. "It sure has a triangular profile. It kind of reminds me of the Greek letter delta."
So we swerve across traffic into the nearest parking lot that bordered Boeing Field, come to a screeching halt, jump out of the car and see:
(Image links to a full resolution version, 815K in size.)
In conclusion, yay for the minor mutant superpower of amazing timing.