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Also, that should have been the backstory of the Matrix, and not the whole “living power source” nonsense.

by perardi 7mo ago

ortusdux 7mo ago
I'm convinced that the studio forced the change to 'human batteries' out of concern over a conflict with Hyperion.
- bee_rider 7mo ago
  Probably the idea is broad enough to get away with borrowing it or putting their own spin on the general idea (I mean, it is expected that stores will influence each other and ideas will spread). I’d rather guess that a studio executive thought the battery idea would be more understandable to people (if that is the case though, I think they were dramatically wrong, the computing idea makes much more sense and I think all of us in the audience would have been fine with it).
  - Henchman21 7mo ago
    Remember that all critiques of Hollywood require you to think like you’ve just consumed a massive line of cocaine. Because that is how they think and live. So, empathy reduced to zero, all your ideas are great, everything else is dumb, etc. Making decisions under the influence of strong narcotics is a recipe for idiocy. Source: me, I had a huge cocaine problem and worked many years in the tech side of music and movies
MikeTheGreat 7mo ago
I saw a YouTube video where they said this was more-or-less the original backstory but then they changed it. I think it said that the People In Charge thought the 'living power source' would be easier for the audience to understand? I don't have the link handy, and don't trust everything I read on the Internet, etc, etc. But yeah - this makes so much more sense than breeding, raising, and feeding humans just to harvest their body heat.
- perardi 7mo ago
  According to Reddit…so, grain of salt…that is an urban legend, related to a Neil Gaiman short story that appeared on the Matrix promo website. https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1amree7/theres_a_widespread_urban_myth_that_in_early/#:~:text=Before%20the%20Matrix%20released%20in,“Goliath”%20by%20Neil%20Gaiman. https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1amree7/theres_a_wi...
  - bee_rider 7mo ago
    I think we the urban legend really sticks around because the compute explanation just makes much more sense and we all want this beloved movies not to have a sill (albeit inconsequential) plot hole.
    - perardi 7mo ago
      Oh, totally, it’s my head canon as well.
      - bee_rider 7mo ago
        Mine is either that, or, the idea I mentioned in this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185076 Machines trying to be benevolent, but overly controlling.
        jbaber 7mo ago
        That's very good.
  - dcx 7mo ago
    It exists and is a great read – https://matrix.fandom.com/wiki/Goliath https://matrix.fandom.com/wiki/Goliath Check the archive.org link at the bottom!
- tempestn 7mo ago
  I like to think the machines actually were using them for processing power, and the humans themselves just misunderstood (or oversimplified for Neo) what was actually going on.
xg15 7mo ago
I like how the other story that has this premise is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
- ping00 7mo ago
  don't forget Sirens of Titan!
- zoogeny 7mo ago
  Hitchhiker's Guide had a slightly deeper philosophical implication though, in that the premise is that powerful computers already existed to solve complex problems. Earth was created to pose powerful questions.
gostsamo 7mo ago
I'm sure that one Star trek episode had the same premise, together with something from Lem. The connection human/machine brain is rather old and human brains being used for computation is so reused, it is practically public domain.

Also, that should have been the backstory of the Matrix, and not the whole “living power source” nonsense.

by perardi 7mo ago

Also, that should have been the backstory of the Matrix, and not the whole “living power source” nonsense.

ortusdux 7mo ago

I'm convinced that the studio forced the change to 'human batteries' out of concern over a conflict with Hyperion.

bee_rider 7mo ago
Probably the idea is broad enough to get away with borrowing it or putting their own spin on the general idea (I mean, it is expected that stores will influence each other and ideas will spread). I’d rather guess that a studio executive thought the battery idea would be more understandable to people (if that is the case though, I think they were dramatically wrong, the computing idea makes much more sense and I think all of us in the audience would have been fine with it).
- Henchman21 7mo ago
  Remember that all critiques of Hollywood require you to think like you’ve just consumed a massive line of cocaine. Because that is how they think and live. So, empathy reduced to zero, all your ideas are great, everything else is dumb, etc. Making decisions under the influence of strong narcotics is a recipe for idiocy. Source: me, I had a huge cocaine problem and worked many years in the tech side of music and movies

MikeTheGreat 7mo ago

I saw a YouTube video where they said this was more-or-less the original backstory but then they changed it. I think it said that the People In Charge thought the 'living power source' would be easier for the audience to understand? I don't have the link handy, and don't trust everything I read on the Internet, etc, etc. But yeah - this makes so much more sense than breeding, raising, and feeding humans just to harvest their body heat.

perardi 7mo ago
According to Reddit…so, grain of salt…that is an urban legend, related to a Neil Gaiman short story that appeared on the Matrix promo website. https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1amree7/theres_a_widespread_urban_myth_that_in_early/#:~:text=Before%20the%20Matrix%20released%20in,“Goliath”%20by%20Neil%20Gaiman. https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1amree7/theres_a_wi...
- bee_rider 7mo ago
  I think we the urban legend really sticks around because the compute explanation just makes much more sense and we all want this beloved movies not to have a sill (albeit inconsequential) plot hole.
  - perardi 7mo ago
    Oh, totally, it’s my head canon as well.
    - bee_rider 7mo ago
      Mine is either that, or, the idea I mentioned in this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185076 Machines trying to be benevolent, but overly controlling.
      - jbaber 7mo ago
        That's very good.
- dcx 7mo ago
  It exists and is a great read – https://matrix.fandom.com/wiki/Goliath https://matrix.fandom.com/wiki/Goliath Check the archive.org link at the bottom!
tempestn 7mo ago
I like to think the machines actually were using them for processing power, and the humans themselves just misunderstood (or oversimplified for Neo) what was actually going on.

xg15 7mo ago

I like how the other story that has this premise is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

ping00 7mo ago
don't forget Sirens of Titan!
zoogeny 7mo ago
Hitchhiker's Guide had a slightly deeper philosophical implication though, in that the premise is that powerful computers already existed to solve complex problems. Earth was created to pose powerful questions.

gostsamo 7mo ago

I'm sure that one Star trek episode had the same premise, together with something from Lem. The connection human/machine brain is rather old and human brains being used for computation is so reused, it is practically public domain.