Skip to main content

How do people in the Matrix develop a residual self image that resembles their own body?


As we know people born in and connected to the Matrix retain a residual self image. Morpheus told Neo:




Your appearance now is what we call residual self image. It is the mental projection of your digital self.



Freed people that hack back into the Matrix keep that projection and do not change it at will (see: Did People Within The Matrix Always Resemble their Real World Bodies?).


But here's the question: How do people born (or grown for that matter) in the Matrix develop a residual self image that resembles their own body in the first place? You simply do not know how you look if you never saw yourself. It would therefore require that the Matrix feeds your brain with a mental image based on your real body thus requiring some scanners (or whatever) inside the tank to obtain ones features within the goo.


That leads to the more important question as to why would the machines go through all this trouble to provide "proper" residual self images for their connected humans? The prime purpose of the Matrix is to keep their "guests" attached for live, pretty unaware of the fact that they are in the Matrix - as Morpheus puts it, blinded from the truth of being a prisoner. That goal could be perfectly achieved without everybody knowing their own look safe those who are freed from the Matrix (but then again why would the machines be worried about them)?


For the sake of the discussion lets assume that there is only one layer of the Matrix - that being: the "Zion-real world" is the real world - as nested layers of the Matrix would of course simplify things greatly.



Answer



The brain and the body are still connected


You're assuming there's a total disconnect between brain and body. Based on what we see (damage to the brain causes damage to the real-world body, conversely damage to the real-world body also causing the digital self to falter) this simply isn't true.




Morpheus: The body cannot live without the mind



Since the brain and body are intimately connected it makes perfect sense for the RSI to mirror the real world body, ensuring the minimum of effort on the part of the machines. Imagine the additional computing power needed to trick a 10-year-old into thinking they've got the body of a 30-year-old or to explain to a supposedly healthy 20-year-old (who's really 80) why they're tired all the time.



The machines want to be helpful


The Matrix and Zion are a sham. The whole point is to allow the small proportion of dissidents to freely move around inside it and escape from it. If the RSI was dramatically different from the self, it would make things much harder. You simply wouldn't know who was who and who you could trust.



The machines can scan you


As to how, as you've already pointed out, the machines have access to your body. It would be a simple matter for them to scan you periodically and then serve that image up to you whenever you view yourself (on film, in mirrors or when you look down) so you see what they want you to see. These images will reinforce your own self-image as you grow up.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more