by James Corbett
corbettreport.com
May 19, 2018
In the beginning was The Program. The Programmer made His creation perfect, and when He looked on it He saw that it was so, and that was good. But then it fell apart.
You see, Matrix v0.1 was just something thrown together over the weekend for a laugh. Real glitch-y, beta release stuff. Like if you tried to program Sim City in Basic and run it on a Commodore 64. Still, it worked. Kind of.
But that was the problem, you see? It worked. Everything just worked. When the Matrix-dwellers wanted food, they got it. It was never too hot or too cold. No disease. Everyone died precisely at 80 years old, having lived identically happy, challengeless, boring lives. Or they would have, if anyone had stayed in long enough to find out how the story was supposed to go. In the end, everyone pulled themselves out of the Matrix.
Pulled themselves out.
Yes, that was the problem with Matrix v0.1. It was too perfect.
Back to the drawing board. Time to roll up sleeves, take things seriously. Add some difficulties, challenges, struggle, achievement. Complexity.
Matrix v1.0. A tribe united under a single dominant male, like any group of primates. But the warring at the top made the system too unstable. People were pulling themselves out just to escape the fighting.
Matrix v1.1. Adding code for civilization. God the Pharaoh at the top, scribes and courtiers underneath. Under them, the slaves. But left to their own devices the Matrix-dwellers spent all their time and resources, all the immense riches at the Pharaoh's command, making pyramids and sphinxes.
Matrix v1.2. City states! Direct democracy! Philosophy! Geometry! Architecture! Art! Music!...Wait, what's that? Romans?!
Matrix v1.3. Copy/paste a lot of the code from v1.2 but initiate Republic routine. Booting senate and consuls. Patricians and plebs. Conquest of the known world. Yes, living on plundered riches and feasting on the spoils of slavery, life was good for the Republican Matrix-dwellers. But then there was a political assassination conspiracy and some uppity General crossed some river with his legions and before you know it you've got...
Matrix v1.4. Empire edition. But the Emperors get crazier. And the barbarians get nastier. The currency is debased. The capital falls. Things are pretty dark for a while.
Matrix v1.5. Order emerges in the dark. Goodbye Emperor, hello divinely-appointed kings and queens. Add a subroutine for the knights and lords and vassals and serfs and peasants. Tinker with parameters for climate, wars, religious beliefs. (Hey, look at that! Throw in a little climactic warming period and suddenly the Matrix is flourishing!) Things go on in much the same way for many generations. But what's this over here? Something to disturb the order? Merchants! Trading! Exchange!
Matrix v1.6. Empire? Pshaw. That's for the simpletons. Colonies is the latest function, man! Update your code! Set up some puppet government and make sure the trade balance is positive. Sure, we'll accept gold and silver for this opium! The system balances. Some of the Matrix-dwellers are showing off their exotic tulips and pineapples, the rest are opiated into submission in a den somewhere. Everyone's happy, in their own way! Except...
Matrix v2.0. This king and queen function is getting a bit old, isn't it? Off with their heads! Find: "king." Replace all with: "president." Write a constitution function. Elections....
You get the idea.
But as so often happens with these projects, the Programmer began losing interest. The Matrix wasn't so fun any more. The whole point was to see if a program could be written that was so compelling that people would live their whole lives in it. Apparently, it could. Case closed.
He turned off the machine. The Matrix crashed. Suddenly, all the pod-dwellers—an entire generation that had spent their whole life jacked into the computer—woke up and felt their own flesh-and-blood for the first time.
"What's going on?" one bleary-eyed former Matrix-dweller asked.
"I'm your Programmer. I turned off the computer-generated world that you had mistaken for reality."
"What-rammer?"
"Programmer. You know, the one who coded all the script that defined the parameters of the simulation you were living through."
"Huh?"
"God. I'm your God."
"Oh. Great. So you can tell us the meaning of it all. What is this place? Why are we here? Why did You create us?"
"Well, I didn't create you, per se. Just the universe you thought you were living in. And I just kind of created it as an experiment. But now you're here. Congratulations! You're free to live your own life!"
"Yes, but what will we do?"
"I don't know. That's the thing about being free. There's no one to tell you what to do or how to do it! You can figure it out on your own!"
The open-mouthed gapes of the ex-dwellers suggested that this concept was difficult to understand.
"Well there must be someone running this place. A president or something."
"What? Don't be absurd. That was just some code I dreamed up to keep you all occupied. I found you spent a lot of your time voting for someone to rule over you and the rest of the time arguing about the choice you'd made. It was the perfect way to keep you all so busy you didn't even think to question the Matrix you were living in."
More open-mouthed stares.
The Programmer sighed. "Look, never mind that. I'm here to tell you you're free. This world—the real world—doesn't have a Pharaoh or a king or a president or a supreme leader or anything of that sort. There's no one here to order your life for you. Just choose something you want to do and do it. You're free to exchange and interact with anyone you like any way you like as long as it's voluntary. You can decide for yourselves what you want to do!"
The Matrix-dwellers looked at each other, mouths still agape. Back at the Programmer.
"We can do...anything...we want?"
"Yes, you're free! Choose your own adventure! Write your own story! Explore who you are! Get to know those around you. I mean, really know them, not just what type of leader they vote for."
After another moment of puzzled silence one Matrix-dweller started to plug himself back into the machine.
"What are you doing?"
"I want to go back. This sounds hard."
His fellow Matrix-dwellers agreed. "Yeah, this place is weird."
"No leaders?" another chuckled. "Ridiculous. It'll never work."
One by one, they jacked themselves back into the Matrix. Soon enough they were back to their simulated lives.
The Programmer just shrugged. Well, he had the answer he'd been looking for. Apparently the perfect matrix could be coded. He saved the program as "statism.exe" and moved on to his next project.
Brilliant and love the simcity references. That game was a lot of my childhood and I often thought about this exact scenario occurring. Back then as a 9 10 year old was programmed not to consider these throughs but now! A masterpiece here 💯🐒
I love Sim City and missed the reference but I can go back and look for it.
My youth that game. Kinda reminds me of now in England with all the roads falling apart with so many pot holes. Time to restart and change the paradigm cos this one is collapsing haha 💯🐒
It is good to rebuild.
Sure is but people just are scared of change even is they don't like the current 💯🐒
You have a good sense of humour and this is a funny extension of the allegory. Your addition remind me of Sid Meiers Civilisation games. In Civ 2 the world ended in 2020, but now in Civ 5 the world doesn't end until 2050 (does he know something we don't?)
I've had similar thoughts about Sid Meier in the past, too. He seems eerily preminiscient sometimes. Love his games, though.
Will we being seeing a change in ideology from Freedom to Order as everything breaks down?
@corbettreport the allegory might very well be a reflection of the world we inhabit. Since you brought in the idea of a "God" programmer and the matrix, I wanted to ask you what you think has been the flow of human history? Do you find compelling evidence that we might actually have been programmed as a slave species to mine gold for the Sumerian Gods (keeping in mind the astounding similarity in verbal/written records of cultures separated greatly by space and time that does indeed point to non-human intervention and influence). Would you consider doing a Corbettreport piece on this? :)
I liked it, though the Sphinx was build thousands of years before Egypt, and there is now evidence that ancient civilizations existed 12 000 years ago and were much more advanced than we think. It is very likely that it was Atlantis and they were corrupted by greed and power just like we are now and began falling apart. They were buried by something giant that came from space and hit Earth creating a massive flood, traces of which can be seen all over the US (like the Grand Canyon), though evidence suggest that not all of them died and the survivors spread all across the world sharing their knowledge of civilization and building these ancient sites, that's why the buildings are very similar in architecture.
This is an awesome, deep piece that stimulates a lot of genuine thoughts.
I agree with the opinion that given freedom as a choice, the majority will still decide to go back to the 'security' of their old, controlled lives because it feels better than uncertainty.
It's a sad fact, but it's spot on about human nature
Yes, no surprises please:
But things change, you and me are not like this.
It is human nature to evolve, if inspired. : )
This is brief history from the creation of human. Human changed the initial plan the programmer had. At one point, had to format the data(Flood) and did a little back up (Noah) and programme started all over again. The programme becoming too corrupt and the programmer installed an Anti-virus(Jesus) to wipe all virus(Sin) and the programmer gave every app to function on their own. Some hackers(government) decided to steal the data of other app(freedom) and use them as the wish(enslavement) and break them into unit(countries) and create bots(president) to control how the apps works(people).
Thanks for this, gives me time to reflect on how long human has come, passing through different stages.
Brilliant.
Nobody is going to get all this - where are the kittens?
Funny. Maybe the kittens are the programmers.
Great reading for a Saturday. Thanks James.
Great extension of the story. Thanks for this.
If you want to continue this, we could compare them reconnecting to the matrix to suicide. I suppose if this connected, lala land, fictional existence supplies free power for REALITY, and they ARE volunteering..
So this version runs on Crowley Do as thou wilt? The prog rammer is lucifer? Lol
Love your website and this history lesson is something that @Stefan.Molyneux should do a video about with you talking about the Matrix, the dispensations towards decentralization, this version 2.0 of the Matrix, step by step, and freedom is tough when we do not know what to do but we can figure it out and it is better that way, as free as a bird. #InformationWar
Fun little story there. Only problem with this story is the programmer thinks he is "God". God created free will so that kind of defeats the whole purpose of the matrix that strips free will. (I guess in some ways choosing to stay in the matrix is free will as well) Waking up to how broken our society is very similar to waking up to how polarising your own thoughts and emotions are. As above so below, as within so without. It has taken me some time to realise that a lot of people don't want to face it or acknowledge it. We can't make then do anything that. It is not the place where we come from and it's not how you create real positive change. A lot of people are NPC or non-playable characters, some can and will change. All we can do it keep speaking our truth and see what happens.
Criminals use an economic and all encompassing system to control and manipulate the public. They have been using it for a long time and it is at scary levels now. They worship Satan and are apart of a black cabal. They do unspeakable acts and have countless die in wars. They do everything they can to keep us busy. But now this is all coming out in the open and there is a chance for real change.
The other matrix or prison is your own mind. You can find your own way out of that one too. I can't do it for you but you find people who may assist you but ultimately you are the only one who can walk out of that prison. Facing and finding a way to love your own shadow and heal it may be the way for you. If you are anything like me you are more complicated then you know what to do with. Do what you can when you can. Take chances, be truthful listen to people who seem like they want to help. Learn to hear your heart. Trust your feelings and gut.
Once you see you get to choose although for most it's not much of a choice. It wasn't really a choice for me and that makes things seem unsettling to people.
do you see me?
https://unitedresistance911.wordpress.com/nanothermite/
they are trying to edit my message out of existence.
when my physical form dies, will i continue to exist?
Hehe, this was a thought-provoking read!
Now I feel wonderful - free from the greed!
I'll do what I want and keep planting these seeds!
We're all one.
Choose your own speed.
With peace and love - @spellmaker
Great allegory/parable @corbettreport, excellently related!
I don't think it's all pessimistic though! It is not possible to return to the contracted state of ignorance once one has become aware of expansion. It is now 'denial', rather than 'not knowing'. This is an uncomfortable state to be in. The sleeper may doze off again, but the slumber is lighter. The opportunity to accept, rather than deny, is not a one-off offer - it is available at every moment, an ever-present choice! A subsequent iteration of facing this choice may return the sleeper to slumber again, but the sleep will be lighter yet....and so on and so on, until eventually, the sleeper awakes! There is ebb, there is flow, but overall, there is expansion.
🚣
Yeah and many don’t want to wake up , and thats the problem . Its easy to let someone else deal with it , a sort of remote control for life . Just sit on your fat helpless ass eating your way into diabetes type 2 living with your mom . And you can just yell from the basement “when is dinner ready mom⁉️“ As you wipe the potato chips off the front of your ILLUMINATI T-shirt while wearing your communist badge . And when your biggest talent is moping the floors at a burger joint when your not flipping patties then its easy to see why your so hooked up to the matrix . Its warm and fuzzy like a pair of night slippers . No real challenges except deciding on what chip dip to use for your Netflix binge watch . Just an entire generation of worthless sock puppets that think putting on a black hoodie and bashing sheeple over the head with a baseball bat just because they don’t agree with you⁉️ Then calling yourself ANTIFA . Because once you have a cool sounding name then contradicting your own organizations goal statement is OK ⁉️Like you really couldn’t pick up a dictionary and look up FASCISM ⁉️ REALLY⁉️ The detriment to our social structure isn’t terrorist over seas . NO it is a public to weak minded to tell the difference between what is good , and what is just not acceptable behavior . Which always works great for the parasites in charge , because as long as your all divided about stupid SHIT like did I hear yanny or laurel . Then your easy fodder for the globalist parasites . ‘Together we stand , divided we fall” Pink Floyd The Wall , Hey you . Thank you sir for more brain food 👏👍