The Matrix

Science is exciting but it can be very frustrating. I am a biological researcher, in the business of discovery and exploration. I work with human cancer cells, systems that have evolved to be flexible for the sake of their own survival. We isolate them and examine them in slo-mo, taking snapshots of their biochemistry and their life cycles, trying to look for the themes and patterns that govern their behavior, making predictions, testing hypotheses, trying to understand how we can intervene and what molecules to mess with that can potentially be targets for future therapies.

We could live quite happily without knowing how any of this works. We have survived several million years in blissful oblivion. But the very acknowledgement of its existence draws us (or me) to knowing more about it.

There are days when I identify with Neo from the Matrix. Science is my Matrix, and some days, it feels as though I work amongst people that care just enough to get by.

One of my favorite parts of the movie is where Neo meets Morpheus for the first time and he's faced with the reality of his existence. At this point, he is offered the choice - now that he knows, does he want to continue his pointless existence, as vanilla as it seems or would he rather choose the truth, to delve deeper, to see reality as it is?


Morpheus: I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole?

Neo: You could say that.

Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?

Neo: No.

Morpheus: Why not?

Neo: 'Cause I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.

Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Neo: The Matrix?

And of course, the scene ends with me taking the red pill, because unfortunately, I am interested in staying in Wonderland and seeing just how far the rabbit hole goes.

Ugh. If only I'd had gotten in my applications to the food and hotel management course on time ten years ago. Science is exciting but it can be very frustrating.