The Matrix is a fascinating movie because it is visually stunning, innovative and it is a good story. It works on so many levels.
It could be a metaphor for insights or revelations or breakthroughs, understandings that come to you when you have worked on a problem for a long time and you suddenly see a new way, a new path, a new future, but one where you have to completely change the notions and perceptions of the present. As Morpheus warns Neo prior to taking the blue pill or the red pill; “I will only show you the truth”. And afterwards he warns him again; “You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it”.
The Matrix could be a documentary of a future where Elon Musk’s “Neuralink” becomes wildly successful, or prior to ultimate Neuralink success, a version of VR that becomes so real that we will no longer be able to discern what is real and what is experienced. Or we actually prefer the world within VR because it is much better, much more interesting, much more fascinating. It is like reality on steroids.
The Matrix could be a documentary of our sensory systems, what we see, hear, smell, feel about what we say is reality, but most neuroscientists will break down as perception systems for survival honed over millennia to keep us alive. The world may be very different from what we think it to be. We mistakenly as humans attribute all sorts of feelings to this system which ultimately is a survival mechanism. Our sensory systems and brain have been hugely successful, but we do not hear all tones, we cannot see all colours, we do not see in all lighting conditions, we do not smell all odours, we cannot promptly remember everything we have experienced. We go to a movie and say we saw a movie, when in fact we see single images moving at 24 frames per second. So, a neuroscientist can very quickly break down the idea that our sensory system is reliable and that there is in fact A reality. According to Anil Seth our idea of A reality, is rather like a Microsoft Windows UI and our brain is the digital processing of the computer. The fact that you manipulate a mouse cursor across a screen is just represented by 0’s and 1’s in the computer. So, as our brain tells us there is a colour blue or red, when in fact the colour doesn’t exist but is just light at a certain wavelength. To put a point on it, you all have had moments of “déjà vu”, this was brilliantly captured as “a glitch in the Matrix”, when Neo does a double take on a black cat. So, ultimately the reliability, the shared view, of what is called “reality” is highly questionable and subject to us being honed for survival and the rather limited perception systems we carry around.
The Matrix could be a documentary of what can happen when we bypass our conscious selves and let our full brainpower access our problems and tasks.
When Neo learns to fight in the Matrix, Morpheus consistently coaxes Neo to stop thinking. When seeing the movie again recently there is a lot of mumble jumble in the dialogue, sounding like a crude version of Eastern philosophical thinking, but it relates well to the latest neuroscience called radical plasticity theory, that in fact all thoughts and ideas exist everywhere in your body and kind of wells up from the unconscious with such massive speed and abundance that we need the Self or our consciousness to slow things down. Like a dam holding back a lake and only letting a trickle out. At any given time, it is estimated that we use 1–5% of our brain power for conscious activity and the rest for breathing, seeing, keeping our kidneys running etc. etc. etc.
The Matrix is maybe a future documentary of a saviour, Neo, a Jesus or Messiah like figure, that awakens to his calling and his ability to save the world from dark forces. Morpheus is John the Baptist initiating the saviour ceremonially into his new reality. The Matrix itself is the dark evil forces of the devil that Cypher, our Judas figure, makes a pact with to give away our trio of saviours Morpheus, Trinity and Neo.
Now, where am I going with all of this?
As founders and entrepreneurs, we could say in a rather crude way that we are all the time selling, promoting, pushing our ideas, pushing our way. Or like the famous “reality distortion field” of Steve Jobs; bending reality to suit our vision. Great entrepreneurship in my view is storytelling. Employees, partners, suppliers, customers, investors all want to be “seduced” by the story you can conjure up out of … thin air.
As with The Matrix, a great story works on many levels, it speaks to the heart, it has a certain logic to it, it feels right. It is not only about the vision for your business, it is also about how you came to the place where you are today, it is about what you went through as a team, it is about the mistakes and struggles. What formed you as a team? What formed you as a company? Like Neo learning to fight, the formation story is as important as the vision you want to portray. It is also about the “Why?” Ultimately, what is at the heart of your desire as leaders to go through the struggle over 3–5–10 years?
I would like to share again the quote from Larry Harvey, one of the founders of Burning Man, the festival in the desert of Nevada, who said:
“Well it seems to me, that all real communities grow out of a shared confrontation with survival. Communities are not produced by sentiment or mere goodwill. They grow out of a shared struggle. Our situation in the desert is an incubator for community.”
So, tell your survival story! Tell us how you will prevail! Entice us, seduce us!
