SyFy 101: Taming The Technological Beast

Most people see the integration of technology in our lives as a beneficial, if not necessary. As a species, we have become reliant on technology for necessary daily tasks such as transportation and communication. But we also allow technology can fill countless hours of our free time: movies, cell phones, music, the Internet, video games — the list goes on. If one considers how much of our lives we have given over to technology, it’s no wonder some see it as a threat to human existence.

"The Matrix" is by no means the only film to deal with a fear of technology. In fact, the Terminator film series, as well as its companion television series "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," are founded on the same concept. John Connor must fight the machines that threaten our existence.

In “The Terminator” canon, the machines are a clearly identifiable enemy completely detached from the humans. The terminators emulate humans in order to infiltrate their society and destroy them. The method in "The Matrix" is much more subtle: people have rolled over and played dead, allowing technology to seep so deeply into their lives that the concept of reality is solely defined by the technology that enslaves them. As scary as it would be to have Arnold Schwarzenegger chase you around with an Uzi, oddly enough, the technological menace in “The Matrix” is much more frightening.

One of my professional fields of study is folklore; one of my hobbies is following apocalyptic prophecy. Both paths have led me to hear rumors over the last 30 years of super computers poised to take over the world. Even as a child, before computers found their way into our homes, I heard of the frightening implications of computes taking over the world: computers so powerful they would know everything about you.

As a child, the notion of machines knowing everything about me was frightening. Who would have thought then that as an adult, I would be using computers daily in my job, for shopping and entertainment? I consider myself cautious, yet I freely give personal information to computers all the time.

While the concept was new to me then, films like “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) had already dealt with the concept of thinking computers in conflict with humans nearly a decade earlier. Earlier in the 1960s, Rod Serling penned an episode for the second season "Twilight Zone" called "A Thing About Machines" in which household gadgets revolted against their human adversaries. The image of an electric shaver chasing a man stands out as simultaneously ridiculous and frightening.

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