ABSTRACT
Data are all around us. Data impact everything we do. In The Matrix trilogy, Neo and his compatriots battle evil machines and “agents” in a fight to protect and liberate humanity from the Matrix. We learn in the films that the Matrix is really nothing more than a simulated reality, a computer program created to control humanity. Neo, the one who has been pre-chosen to free humanity and end the Matrix, is one of the few people who can see the truth of the Matrix. The Matrix is a string of numbers, like the one above. It is a collection of numeric data, that when taken together tell us something about what they describe. In the case of the Matrix, the numbers Neo and his fellow freedom fighters saw were the Matrix formula. They saw the Matrix “talking.” Data in Neo’s world were all around him. Most technological things we do in life function with such matrices behind them: bank transactions, the Internet, phone calls, etc. . . . However, data do not have to just be numeric. Data can also include interview transcripts, observations, paintings, and song lyrics, just to name a few.
