• Log In

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

Subscribe on Android Spotify Google Podcasts audible patreon
  • Home
  • Podcast
    • PEL Network Episodes
    • Publicly Available PEL Episodes
    • Paywalled and Ad-Free Episodes
    • PEL Episodes by Topic
    • Nightcap
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Pretty Much Pop
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • (sub)Text
    • Phi Fic Podcast
    • Combat & Classics
    • Constellary Tales
  • Blog
  • About
    • PEL FAQ
    • Meet PEL
    • About Pretty Much Pop
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • Meet Phi Fic
    • Listener Feedback
    • Links
  • Join
    • Become a Citizen
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Log In
  • Donate
  • Store
    • Episodes
    • Swag
    • Everything Else
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • My Account
  • Contact
  • Mailing List

Historical File 12-1

March 21, 2015 by John Ludders 5 Comments

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” - Romans 12:1

It’s not news that The Matrix is littered with biblical references.  It’s also not news that the second and third movies are terrible. But, there is a Matrix supplement that is the best human apocalypse story in existence (robot or otherwise).  It also addresses a number of relevant philosophical topics.

“The Second Renaissance,” episodes two and three of The Animatrix, is brilliant. (Episode two is downloadable here, and episode three is here; both are viewable on Youtube.  It is the story of the rise of AI from repressed servitude to the domination and near-destruction of humanity.  It begins with B1-66-ER (a reference to Bigger Thomas), a housekeeping robot who killed his owners to avoid his own termination. He is not given a fair trial and states that he "simply did not want to die.” This sets off a chain of events beginning with a failed, violently put down, robot civil rights movement, leading to the creation of an independent machine nation “Zero-One.”  After an attempt by humans to destroy 0-1 and block out the sun, the machines take over the earth and turn us into batteries.  It’s not pretty.

The brilliance of these short episodes (together, they total twenty minutes) is in their complex visual questioning of the idea that we are the only intelligence, or that we own intelligence itself. Science fiction has created a lot of AI apocalypses. "The Second Revolution" is kind of a synopsis of them all. With commentary. It delves into the ethics of servitude, the cost of war, and the idea of what it means to be a conscious being. Its greatest quality is its ability to be referential.  From the obvious pyramid structures being built by robot servants to the Billy Graham wannabe displayed in front of a human army, the film constantly critiques ideas that are important to human history and modern society. For example, this should look familiar:


Unsurprisingly
, much of what is alluded to is religious in nature, dealing with the idea of human superiority and faith vs. reason issues. But, what's most interesting is the realization that the thing that all those people are worshiping and fruitlessly looking to for salvation in "reality" is suddenly functionally real once humanity is subjugated. In humanity's new reality, all they can know or understand, there is a creator outside of comprehension. A higher intelligence that is omnipotent and can hear your prayers.  In The "Second Renaissance," humanity created god, and they are it's slaves. It is a brilliant and jarring re-framing of the classic philosophical "brain in a jar."

The bottom line is that The Second Renaissance is a must watch for Sci-fi and philosophy nerds alike. It's the perfect gateway drug for discussions of human intelligence, ego, historic recurrence, phenomenology, and a dozen other philosophical topics that are, in this writer's opinion, not hurt by their inclusion in a robot war.  It's brilliant. It is gorgeous.  It' on youtube for free.

 

Bless all forms of intelligence.

 

P.S. in searching for the images above, I was lucky enough to come across what might be the funniest, and my new favorite, image on the internet.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DW7ESYkTwc8/TtMSGA3XARI/AAAAAAAABAw/58L5WtFx_rQ/s1600/under%2Bgod.jpg

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Filed Under: Things to Watch Tagged With: Animatrix, artificial intelligence, Romans 12:1, science fiction

Comments

  1. SeanB says

    March 21, 2015 at 7:36 pm

    Response to your P.S. – There is a great Cthuhlu-themed parody of that image: https://www.google.com/search?q=cthulhu+constitution&rlz=1C1PRFE_enUS629US629&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Ww4OVdOWCJKRyASF24FQ&ved=0CCgQ7Ak

    Reply
  2. John Ludders says

    March 22, 2015 at 3:51 pm

    That is awesome. And terrifying.

    Reply
  3. AlanC says

    March 22, 2015 at 3:58 pm

    Here’s a little more about the artist and the painting:

    http://jonmcnaughton.com/content/ZoomDetailPages/OneNationUnderGod.html

    http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/t3omhb/jon-mcnaughton-s–nation-under-socialism–artwork

    Reply
  4. AlanC says

    March 22, 2015 at 4:02 pm

    http://religionandpolitics.org/2012/07/25/the-tea-partys-painter-the-art-of-jon-mcnaughton/

    Reply
  5. John Ludders says

    March 22, 2015 at 4:10 pm

    I had no idea that was so well known. I just came across the image in a Google image search page (and laughed out loud while sitting alone like a crazy person), so I didn’t see any context. That’s a lot of cool background. Thanks for the info.

    This dude is ridiculous.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

PEL Live Show 2023

Brothers K Live Show

Citizenship has its Benefits

Become a PEL Citizen
Become a PEL Citizen, and get access to all paywalled episodes, early and ad-free, including exclusive Part 2's for episodes starting September 2020; our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more causally; a community of fellow learners, and more.

Rate and Review

Nightcap

Listen to Nightcap
On Nightcap, listen to the guys respond to listener email and chat more casually about their lives, the making of the show, current events and politics, and anything else that happens to come up.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Select list(s):

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Support PEL

Buy stuff through Amazon and send a few shekels our way at no extra cost to you.

Tweets by PartiallyExLife

Recent Comments

  • Randy Strader on Ep. 309: Wittgenstein On Certainty (Part Two)
  • Wes Alwan on PEL Nightcap February 2023
  • Kunal on Why Don’t We Like Idealism?
  • Ronald Cogen on Ep. 311: Understanding the Dao De Jing (Part One)
  • Brian Grindel on PEL Nightcap February 2023

About The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don’t have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we’re talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion

Become a PEL Citizen!

As a PEL Citizen, you’ll have access to a private social community of philosophers, thinkers, and other partial examiners where you can join or initiate discussion groups dedicated to particular readings, participate in lively forums, arrange online meet-ups for impromptu seminars, and more. PEL Citizens also have free access to podcast transcripts, guided readings, episode guides, PEL music, and other citizen-exclusive material. Click here to join.

Blog Post Categories

  • (sub)Text
  • Aftershow
  • Announcements
  • Audiobook
  • Book Excerpts
  • Citizen Content
  • Citizen Document
  • Citizen News
  • Close Reading
  • Combat and Classics
  • Constellary Tales
  • Exclude from Newsletter
  • Featured Ad-Free
  • Featured Article
  • General Announcements
  • Interview
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Misc. Philosophical Musings
  • Nakedly Examined Music Podcast
  • Nakedly Self-Examined Music
  • NEM Bonus
  • Not School Recording
  • Not School Report
  • Other (i.e. Lesser) Podcasts
  • PEL Music
  • PEL Nightcap
  • PEL's Notes
  • Personal Philosophies
  • Phi Fic Podcast
  • Philosophy vs. Improv
  • Podcast Episode (Citizen)
  • Podcast Episodes
  • Pretty Much Pop
  • Reviewage
  • Song Self-Exam
  • Supporter Exclusive
  • Things to Watch
  • Vintage Episode (Citizen)
  • Web Detritus

Follow:

Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Apple Podcasts

Copyright © 2009 - 2023 · The Partially Examined Life, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Copyright Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in