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The Matrix
"Let It All Fall Down"
Online comic
Story and art by Paul Chadwick
2001 |
A programmer uncovers evidence that the
world is not real.
Read the story at
issuu.com
Didja Know?
This story originally appeared on the official Matrix
website in 2001.
The title of this story, "Let It All Fall
Down", is borrowed from that of the 1974 song by James Taylor.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this story
Peter Schoppe
Hardin
Rain (Elivia Thompson)
Agents
Peter Schoppe's brother (unnamed, mentioned only)
Rain's ex-boyfriend (unnamed, mentioned only)
Didja Notice?
Peter Schoppe works on EPOs (Evolving
Programming Objects), capable of rewriting their own code,
in the Matrix. EPOs are a fictitious computer programming
development, though we are getting closer to programming
that works similarly.
Hardin works with interrogative agents, programs
designed to travel the Internet, collecting data and
conducting surveillance. Though interrogative agents by name
are fictitious, their use here is like a more advanced
version of an internet bot called a web crawler.
While confronting Hardin, Peter reflects on how the
Unabomber's critique had rung true with him. The Unabomber
is Ted Kaczynski, a convicted American domestic terrorist
who wrote a manifesto called "Industrial Society and Its
Future" in which he advocated for society to abandon
technology and embrace anarcho-primitivism.
After stumbling on the astonishing truth of the Matrix and
the real world, Peter and Rain drive to the location of
Peter's place of work only to find that the building has been
replaced by Evergreen Mall. There are a few different malls
by that name in North America, but the one shown here is
probably meant to be fictitious.
While he and Rain review the data she downloaded, Peter
mentions Wal-Mart.
The laptop they use is an
Apple
iBook.
Walmart,
of course, is a chain of discount department stores in the
U.S. and around the world.
When he and Rain stop at a
convenience store to get gas, he almost pays with a credit
card before thinking better of it since they are on the run.
The card he has in hand is a
Working Assets card.
After Rain is killed, Peter
breaks into the Le Menu Bar internet cafe to transmit the
data they uncovered to the world. One of the
locations
he sends the data to is the Pentagon.
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the U.S. Department
of Defense. Le Menu Bar appears to be a fictitious
establishment.
Unanswered Questions
Since Peter and Rain found the EPO data on Hardin's
computer, did Hardin (and maybe the company he and Peter
worked for) already know about the Matrix they were all living in?
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