The Money Matrix

NOTE: Yes, The Matrix has long since become a parody of itself.  However, the original film still resonates for me despite the franchise’s myriad problems… which is a super-charged-geek discussion for another time.  The now iconic red pill/blue pill monologue awakened a powerful longing in me all those years ago in a packed movie theater and it serves as the foundational metaphor for this essay.

Humanity has reached a monumental “red or blue pill” moment. 

So which is it going to be?  Are you one of those who will choose to stay in Wonderland (no matter how false it may be) by taking the blue pill?  Or, despite the knowledge that it will awaken you to a gut-wrenching truth and a difficult path, will you choose the red pill?

“The [Money] Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth. That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind.”

When I first saw the film and Morpheus began uttering the words quoted above, a strange and exhilarating feeling took hold of my entire awareness.  From an early age I have been hyper-aware that something was diabolically wrong with my culture. As an individual, I have had great difficulty finding a place within my society that did not result in frustration and, ultimately, a debilitating depression.  Watching the original Matrix film, during those handful of minutes while Morpheus began to lead Neo toward the red/blue pill choice, all of that emotional baggage boiled to the surface.  Subconsciously, I fully understood that I was watching a pseudo-philosophical sci-fi action flick pumped full of fetish-like style.  Somehow, that awareness did not matter.  Those words lifted me, however briefly, toward the possibility of an answer that I had been searching for all of my life. 

The film continued and that feeling quickly evaporated, of course.  But, even to this day, the exhilaration generated by that scene in The Matrix still brings a smile to my face. 

And now, 14 years after the film’s original release, I have true cause to smile.  The answer I have been desperate to discover is no less tangible than Neo waking up in that machine-built cocoon and seeing the reality of his world beyond the virtual deception that had imprisoned him for so long.

Money As Matrix

The thing we call “civilization” is nothing more than interconnected systems governing human behavior.  Just as the millions of programs that make up the virtual world of the film, human being’s invented systems create the reality within which all of us live out our daily lives.

Money permeates all aspects of our existence.  It is, quite literally, everywhere.  The roads we travel on, the buildings we inhabit, the food we eat, the technology we interact with, the work we engage in… everything around us represents a monetary value.  I challenge you to come up with a single physical component of humanity’s current civilization that does not have a price tag attached.  It is impossible.  Within a for profit system, each and every piece of the puzzle cost some amount of money to produce, even the most insipid trinkets cannot become reality without an investment of capital. 

Imagined Value Vs. Real-world Value

We must ask ourselves, “What is the true cost of all this STUFF?”

Money is nothing more than imagery printed on paper.  Collectively, human beings have agreed to accept that these promissory notes have real-world value.  In truth, money is an utterly useless commodity.  You cannot eat it, build a shelter with it, or leverage it in any concrete/useful way (although it could provide a few moments of warmth if you burn it).  Ironically, even the process by which the money itself is produced COSTS MONEY.  Consider the absurdity of that for just a moment. 

Human beings require resources to both survive and to lead meaningful lives.  We have collectively accepted that resources can only be acquired with money.  Is it not madness to make something (paper money) that, in and of itself, has zero real-world value more valuable and sought after than the actual resources we require to survive?  There is a lunacy present in our monetary-based economic system that is impossible to justify by any rational method.

Resource-based Economy

Excerpt from The Venus Project Website:

“The term and meaning of a Resource Based Economy was originated by Jacque Fresco. It is a holistic socio-economic system in which all goods and services are available without the use of money, credits, barter or any other system of debt or servitude. All resources become the common heritage of all of the inhabitants, not just a select few. The premise upon which this system is based is that the Earth is abundant with plentiful resource; our practice of rationing resources through monetary methods is irrelevant and counterproductive to our survival.” 

Rather than delving into the topic of how and why a resource-based economy will solve nearly every problem humanity currently faces in this essay, I will instead urge you to visit the website yourself and take advantage of the wealth of information it provides:  www.thevenusproject.com

THE CHOICE

The [Money] Matrix has you.

The moment of choice has arrived for our species.  The fantasy world propagated by the for profit monetary system which has immersed us in violent conflict and needless human suffering has been torn away.  The real world—a world in which we must intelligently manage Earth’s resources collectively as a species—awaits us.  We possess the technological ability to create abundance for all.  We have an opportunity unprecedented in human history to forge a new civilization in which war, hunger, and ignorance can be washed away and replaced with true prosperity.

The choice is yours.

Which will it be?  The blue pill of monetary delusion and a continuation of the same destructive cycles that have consumed us for centuries?  Or the red pill which will lead to an evolution of our culture… a culture that will be defined by intelligence, equality, and abundance?