The Matrix was released in 1999. The year we entered a new simulation!
Was the release year of The Matrix a hidden message?
In 1999 we entered some kind of simulation reality based on
the world as it was in 1999.
The 21st century doesn't actually exist. The 21st century is just
a digital parody of the 20th. Too many reboots across the arts
and design, films and fashion. We're recycling the same stories
and material.
Cars from 2013 look like cars from 2003 The fashion industry
recycles the 20s-90s in shorter and shorter cycles. Almost all films
nowadays are re-makes, or reboots. Hipsters wear flannel shirts,
buy vinyl, dress in eclectic clothing from past decades, they are
basically recycling old ideas in shorter and shorter cycles.
What we call art nowadays is nothing more than eclectic nostalgia
boiled down into a product. History is being packaged and sold to
us in streets of gentrified 'urban regeneration'. Starbucks is like
the borg implant that assimilates the body of the cities and paves
the way for other cold glass shrines to the cult of consumerism.
That is what we are left with now, old ideas packaged as new
products, not hoverboards or Jetpacks, just cycles of waiting for
the next iPhone. The iPhone is like a nostalgia singularity, from
sharing childhood memes to your 80s playlists.
The illusion of a linear march into the future is a sleight of hand
by the advertisers, trying to convince you that there is something
new under the sun.
Everything since 1999 is derivative, and has a synthetic/plastic
quality to it.
The plans for the simulation originally came out of WWII. Then
the Americans got the data and laid the groundwork for the simulation
in the 50s. By the 70s everything had been planned out.
Mckenna mentioned that he felt that the formal run of history ended
sometime in the early-mid 90s, and then moved into the post modern
malaise.
At any given time we are being influenced by some point in the 20th
Century. Usually from the 1920s to the mid 1990s. Or from Picasso
to the dissolving of the USSR, which would be finalized circa
1993/1994. This manifests as fashion trends. The Edwardian Period
and the late 1990s are more like Bookends, but the late 90s also
serve as the stasis point for the nostalgia.
We experience the Stasis point of 1999. The illusion of something
'new' is a slight of hand by Mad Men. All these 'new things' have
derivative threads that reveal them as old.
Massive 70s Trend, September 2015:
https://stylecaster.com/70s-fashion-trend/
124 Movie Remakes and Reboots Currently in the Works:
https://bit.ly/3PmMgNM
Time Out of Joint
I think that in 1999 we entered some kind of simulation reality based
on the world as it was in 1999. Yes, this is the plot of The Matrix,
but let me elaborate...
I believe that 1999 represents the true 'Present', it is outside the
formal run of 'History', but it is also the tipping point before the
manifested 'future'. By future, I don't mean a specific date, I mean
'Future' as an aesthetic. The future is really only an idea
formulated by 20th century sci-fi. Tight white jump-suits, jet packs,
glass buildings etc, so you only really arrive in the future when it
looks like the future. So the future is a fashion or style, not
a particular date. The film The Thirteenth Floor illustrates all
this.
Now... How would such a Matrix function? It would need to provide
the illusion of forward progress without really moving forward. We
have the miniaturization of technology which has the effect of
emperor's new clothes in terms of 'progress'. Notice that there is
never quantum leaps in progress in the really important areas, such
as energy and biotech. We still have AIDS and Cancer, and we still
rely on fossil fuels. In order to truly be progressing we would have
to be advancing in those sorts of 'big picture' domains, and not just
'new iPhones' every year.
What I think this Matrix is doing is rotating like a Kaleidoscope,
this provides the illusion of 'difference' or progress, but is really
more akin to re-arranging furniture in the room. When this rotation
to a new position happens it causes minor glitches in reality, it
has to create small changes, but never really take us outside of the
venn of the 1999 period. We certainly won't have the 2015 future
as projected in BTTF II.
Follow this, the clothing and fashion from the first season of the
Brady Bunch to the last is very different. It ran from the late 60s
to the mid 70s. However if we saw someone from 2003 or even
1999 walking around today, we wouldn't be taken aback by their
appearance or clothing style. Cars from 2004 don't look that
different from cars from 2014... etc. If a pop music song from
today was released in 2004 it wouldn't feel 'out of place', this is
in contrast to past decades, for example by 1994 the 80s were
already a nostalgic encapsulated idea, an era that had come to
a close, there wasn't this leakage of it into the mid 90s with music
and fashion, it was retro. You could throw an ironic 80s themed
party for example... But how would you throw an ironic retro party
based on 2004? It wouldn't feel retro at all.
I do believe that this is a temporary Matrix however, and will
probably end in the next couple years or so, because the illusion is
wearing thin. Take the idea of a 'hipster' for example. Their fashion
sense is already an eclectic nostalgia of past decades all boiled
down into a 'look'. Therefore there cannot really be a post-hipster,
you can't parody a parody. We've reached some sharp end of an
asymptotic curve, and are ready to break through the membrane
into something else.
You see it all really began with Picasso, and the introduction of the
modern aesthetic, which broke down the world of the Edwardian
gentleman and his white man's burden. Certain end-points already
occurred within the 20th century itself, the art and literature of
the 20s and 30s for example has never been surpassed. As for
modern art it peaked with Pollock. The 60s and the Moon landing
represented the peak of modernism, after all what were the 1970s
but a whining reprisal of the 60s? We were past post-modernism
by the early 90s.
How can the 21st century be anything more than a digital parody
of the 20th?
There is the pre-Ironic era ending somewhere towards the late 90s,
and then the post-Ironic era after the millennium. This is an
important point because notice that you can only remake/reboot
pre-ironic art and styles, that is why all the big Film reboots are
things like GhostBusters, Ninja Turtles and so forth. You cant
really reboot post-irony, say something from 2005 because it
would be like a hipster parodying another hipster, it would be
redundant. So there is this pre-irony innocence up until about
the late 90s.
The phenomenon of 'Synchronicity' began with the death of Kurt
Cobain. But I still think it's positive.
Sync has a quality of concrescence. It's pulling back the curtain
of 'real', and showing us that things are in fact surreal. I think it
ties into time feeling out-of-joint etc. I would suggest that Sync
as a personal and meta phenomenon only became real from
1993/1994 onwards. I am now very convinced that with Kurt
Cobain's death, both the formal run of 'history' ended, and the
phenomenon of Sync began. 1999 was a key stage too, but it
did begin around 1993, and the key thing being Cobain in 1994.
Why? because from 1995 onwards we have been in a post-post-modern,
ironic hipster culture, always looking for nostalgia, always recycling
what has been done before, with every other film being a re-make and
whatnot. A 2013 fashion show had 60s Mod inspired coats, that sort
of thing... Pre 1994 people were still living in their own time, they
weren't hipster and nostalgia freaks like today with our playlist for
every decade, not in the same way as today at any rate, which iPhones
allow for. I see Sync as teleological scintillations of the
transcendental object at the end of time. Like the Aleph/Bet
relationship. What this transcendental object really is
Apotheosis.
Religious symbols, heaven, Gods, space ships etc etc are all just
a symbol-set or placeholders for this personal
Apotheosis/Joy/Excitement. It's sort of a mixture of Mckenna
and Bashar.
Donald Trump Comic (1990)
Rambling Thoughts...
1999 - The Matrix
Enslaved humans are kept docile within the "Matrix" a simulation
of the world as it was in 1999.
Malcolm McDowell was in a movie called Class of 1999. Where
the students discover that their teachers are actually robots. This
fits the Matrix theme.
There's been a really strange theory rattling in the back of my head
about 1999. The theory is that at some point in 1999 we entered
a simulation, or pocket dimension. This is a synthetic reality that
we entered into.
I think our clue was the Cher song believe, with the auto tune, and
Britney Spears who brought about the second death of music.
Also, everyone who talks about 1999 always say that it feels like
yesterday, I hear this over and over.
Of course the world wasn't perfect before we entered the simulation
either, but it definitely had a different vibe to it.
Also whoever is running this simulation seems to love corporate rock,
and synthetic pop, they'll have another fembot dance show for the
Superbowl this year. By corporate rock, I mean that alternative and
punk music died in 1999, and we saw nu-metal, and new rock come
in, reprises of corporate rock was brought in.
They got rid of the Khakis, and got everyone back into Blue Jeans.
Everything since 1999 is derivative, and has a synthetic/plastic
quality to it.
But you say, what about Indie Music? Well there was plenty of Indie
in the 90s already, including Ben Gibbard.
There are certain caretakers of the simulation now, Simon Cowell
for example, creating the new pop stars.
I think that the plans for the simulation originally came out of
WWII. Then the Americans got the data and laid the groundwork
for the simulation in the 50s. By the 70s everything had been
planned out.
Especially since the 70s, there has been synthetic food, medicine,
etc. In other words a fake version of something, branded as the 'real
thing'.
Try to find a 'real' version of anything nowadays, it's damn hard.
They don't even let GMOS be labelled.
Waiting for the next iPhone is sort of a symbol of the linear future.
However what people aren't seeing is that all the component
improvements on the iPhone are now on a sharp curve towards
'good enough'.
For a screen that small how much more resolution can the human
eye use, for consumers how much better does the camera need to
be, etc. In other words beyond a couple more generations the
iPhone will be good enough and the consumer fetish spin-doctors
won't be able to convince you that there is something worth buying
anymore. This is a metaphor for all other things too.
Mckenna mentioned that he felt that the formal run of history ended
sometime in the early-mid 90s, and then moved into the post modern
malaise. (paraphrasing)
He talked about going into Art galleries and seeing an eclectic
mish-mash of decades, and post modern artist not having their own
original point of view.
This is also the time that the Recycling campaigns got introduced
to us in Elementary schools.
Now the regurgitation can no longer be hidden by the ad agencies,
it's apparent for all to see, Soylent Green isn't people, it's history
and old ideas being served up and eaten.
Cars from 2013 look like cars from 2003. The fashion industry
recycles the 20s-90s in shorter and shorter cycles. Almost all films
nowadays are re-makes, or reboots. Hipsters wear flannel shirts,
buy vinyl, dress in eclectic clothing from past decades, they are
basically recycling old ideas in shorter and shorter cycles.
What we call art nowadays is nothing more than eclectic nostalgia
boiled down into a product. History is being packaged and sold
to us in streets of gentrified 'urban regeneration'. Starbucks is
like the borg implant that assimilates the body of the cities and
paves the way for other cold glass shrines to the cult of
consumerism.
That is what we are left with now, old ideas packaged as new
products, not hoverboards or Jetpacks, just cycles of waiting for
the next iPhone. The iPhone is like a nostalgia singularity, from
sharing childhood memes to your 80s playlists.
The illusion of a linear march into the future is a sleight of hand
by the advertisers, trying to convince you that there is something
new under the sun.
However what is this technology actually doing for us, it's the
carrier or medium for memes to be shared, it is the surrogate for
the meme to be born. The meme is yourself made manifest, the
human apotheosis. Not a technological singularity, but a human
one.
Whatever the Apotheosis is I don't see it as something baroque or
byzantine. It's not being an angel sitting on a cloud, flying a
starship to Alpha Centauri, or walking around in white robes and
sandals on the fifth dimension. No those things are just limited
symbols of the true Apotheosis which is living your bliss.
A personal-sync filled solipsistic journey towards living your bliss.
This man to god transition is essentially about turning inside out,
bringing the interior landscape and making it manifest into the
external world. That has been the collective human experience,
bringing out the inventions from the human imagination and
laying them onto the 'exterior' world of rocks water and trees, all
of which happen to be fractal in structure which lend themselves
to the workings of a holographic model.
It is a personal timewave though, the tone of the past 15 years has
been that of an eclectic personal journey, and a move away from
the collective imagination. We no longer all watch the same music
on MTV at the same time, instead we have personal playlists. So
this turning inside out process has moved away from the collective
and towards the personal.
The other shift that people have noticed is that primary colors have
gone from Red Yellow Blue to Red Green Blue. They remember
Red Yellow Blue from Art Class. This one is explainable and isn't
too mysterious, computers use RGB and painters use RYB.
However the RGB primary colors didnt really enter the public
consciousness until about the mid 90s as most people were not
familiar with computers yet. What is interesting is that this is
about the same time period that people noticed the Sun getting
whiter, and commenting that the colors in nature seemed more
saturated in the 70s and 80s. I do think that this time period is
some kind of shift point in time. This early 90s period is also
when a lot of people remember the alternate New Zealand location
i.e East or North East of Australia from the classroom. The so
called (Mandela Effect), another example of synchronicity.
I remember reading this book called 'Turnabout' by Margaret Peterson
Haddix, and it featured two centennial women who aged backwards.
They ended up in the year 2050 or something like that as teenagers.
They went out to celebrate a birthday and the character narrating
made a statement very similar, at least in terms of fashion and art.
Everything that people were wearing was a new decked out version
of previous decades, and the line I'll always remember was "just
what was it about those psychedelic daisies that kept coming back?"
Apparently it was the 4th or so incarnation of flower power being
in vogue.
Credit: r/user/PhiWeaver, 2016
