Please bear in mind that I am only speculating. However, if the Wachowski brothers had in mind what I *think* they had in mind, then I'm even more impressed with the degree of neurocomplexity and psychological insight that The Matrix displays. If they were following the lines of reasoning that I'm looking at, then the science background of The Matrix might, in fact, have some validity.


> 1) If Neo had never used his eyes before he was set free... how did he know what his face looked like???
>
> He had to know what his face looked like for his mind to portray *that* image as the face that is associated with him. Morphius said his eyes were hurting because he had never used them before, so how did he know?

Well, I'll backtrack to what Morpheus said to Neo, in explaining things. He said that all humans in the story were part "of a neural-interactive simulation we know as The Matrix. [Neo's] appearance now is what we call 'residual self-image'...the mental projection of your digital self."

Translation: let's leave aside the obvious difficulty that if Keanu Reeves in his "Real Life" form had looked different from his Neo image, the audience would have been confused. I think that what the Wachowskis were refering to, in terms of 'residual self-image', is that living creatures with cerebral cortices generally have a pretty good idea of what their bodies are "supposed" to look like. Somehow. It's a cellular self-recognition process that starts during embryogenesis, when the future neural pathways that activate different parts of the body are *spatially* mapped onto the brain. One way we know this is from studies of children born without limbs, who nonetheless can report "knowing what it feels like" to have a hand with fingers attached to an arm. Likewise, it may not be too big a stretch to imagine that self-recognition of facial features may be possible on a similar, intuitive level. The human brain is far more complex than any computer today. Who knows what we'd be capable of, if we became cybernetically enhanced enough to accept that kind total immersion VR experience. *shudder*


> 2) If they were truly "freed" from the non-reality of the Matrix, and they knew that they could bend/break the laws, then *how* could they be killed in the Matrix? I mean I understand that if the mind is convinced that something is real it takes action as such, even to the point that it could cause death. But the whole point of the movie was to show that it wasn't real...

It's not merely a matter of "what's real" or not. Like many good stories, The Matrix can be enjoyed on several levels. In the movie, as was in Dark City, there is quite a bit of symbolism involved. Neo had to work through the concept of Transcendence, or breaking preconceived limitations to achieve his destiny. Thus it was symbolic that "normals" were always doomed to the wages of death whenever they were killed in The Matrix. It took Neo ("the New One") to overcome death, in the first step towards liberating the enslaved. This bit also explains why everyone always needed symbolic "Exits" in order to mentally leave The Matrix. The film draws heavily on Christian allegory and themes of redemption but, obviously, I'd hesitate to say that you could actually learn about redemption from watching The Matrix.

Still, I *did* like the movie because it seemed to match food for thought alongside a considerable artistic appeal.

Wolfspirit