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One of my favorite movies is The Matrix. Not only are the story, characters, directing, acting, and special effects all top-notch, but it touches on themes that are as relevant today as they were in 1999.
If you somehow haven’t seen the movie, the premise is that evil AI has taken over the world and enslaved 99.9% of humanity. To keep the humans placid, the AI traps them in “the Matrix”, a metaverse that most humans live and die believing is real life.
In 2022, we may not live in a machine-created digital reality (I hope), but we most definitely live in a Matrix.
Instead of killer robots, we have the financial pressures of modernity. Instead of biological batteries, we are money faucets. Instead of the bone of blue-pill bliss, we have the bone of temporary dopamine hits.
The game is rigged against us all the same.
Forced Choices
The sad reality is that most people’s dreams never have a chance. Modern society doesn’t allow for it.
Kids today are conditioned from the start to work their asses off in school for the opportunity to pay for a good college. It’s a high-pressure world, and it’s one that I lived growing up. Trust me, it’s not fun.
But, at the same time, parents are not wrong in pushing their kids to excel. A college degree is now a prerequisite to being a member of society. Not getting one makes earning a living for most people much more difficult. In today’s world of rising cost-of-living and stagnant wages, you better do everything you can to secure your financial future, which means striving for a college degree.
The problem is that degrees vary widely in benefits and prestige, but not as much in price. A Princeton degree is worth much more than a Trinity degree, but Trinity is actually more expensive than Princeton. Even if you want to save money and go to a school like Montclair State, that still runs you $43,000 a year.
Long gone are the days of paying for college with a summer job. In a world where it is almost certain that you will be in heavy debt after college, you have to strive for the best school possible.
Once in college, you must choose a major and career path that makes paying off the debt possible. Liberal arts and humanities are out; economics and STEM are in. Again, it makes sense. You have to make a living, and it’s a lot easier to make one as a banker then as an artist.
The problem is that you don’t have the choice anymore. You want me to believe that 25% of Harvard graduates took finance jobs and 50% of Penn graduates took finance or consulting gigs because they have a passion for it? Stop it. I went to Haverford College, a home to many finance bros. I’ve met many 3 people who have a passion for finance. The vast majority are doing it for the money.
Because they have to.
Conformity Culture
The pressures of debt are harmful for multiple reasons.
For one, it means that America’s brightest are entering an industry that is, at best, net-neutral or slightly positive for society. Don’t get me wrong, finance has its role, but I know many people like Sullivan in Margin Call, turning down rocket scientist jobs for finance. Would the world be better off with more Elon Musks or Gordon Gekkos?
The other consequence is the crushing of individuality, leading to a stagnation in culture.
Ever wonder why everything today looks and feels the same? People dress the same. Music all sounds the same. Movies are remakes and sequels. Twitter threaders are all “curating” each other’s content. The world has evolved into a monoculture.
This monoculture is because society propagates conformity. We are led to believe that to escape the weight of student loans, you have to look a certain way. Talk a certain way. Dress a certain way. Think a certain way. Get a certain job.
Culture doesn’t advance when everybody is the same. In today’s world, where being alive is so damn expensive, being yourself is an almost impossible task. Gone are the days of spending your youth fucking around and finding out. In are the days of ass-kissing and toxic grind-posting on LinkedIn.
A world full of NPCs is not a world conducive to cultural progress.
Enough is Enough
The modern Matrix is quite advantageous for the elites. It leads to a subdued populace that is too busy grinding to notice they are being screwed. Who do you think is benefiting more from an IB analyst putting in 90-hour weeks, the bank or the analyst?
It is equivalent to modern-day serfdom. Only now, instead of having the lord’s protection, you get thrown enough money to temporarily buy yourself happiness. Yeah, your life sucks, but hey, here’s a Peloton. Iron handcuffs are being replaced with golden ones.
However, a handcuff is still a handcuff, and the modern one is increasingly invisible. We’re putting them on as a kid without even realizing it. When the money’s good, you don’t even consciously feel it. But subconsciously, you do. You know you’re not being true to yourself, and it eats at you.
Why do you think Gen Z has such horrible mental health? Parents think it’s because of the pandemic, but it’s really because we’re an aimless generation. There’s a reason why those between 20 and 24 are the most anxious. We’ve gone our whole lives pushing our dreams to the side, and are now having a quarter-life crisis.
Unhappiness is rampant, and it’s only going to get worse. The financial shackles of modernity and its individuality-killing nature aren’t going anywhere. Debt is ever steadily increasing. Personal savings are going down. Politicians cannot fix it, and the elites are too blinded by greed to even try. A system that burdens people to this extent is not sustainable.
That’s why I’m confident this arrangement is at the end of its rope. The seeds of change are rooted in dissatisfaction. In The Matrix, the red-pillers fighting the robots were the unhappy ones. It will be the same for us.
We are living in a society-wide bubble that will inevitably burst. The only questions are when, and what will we replace it with?
Breakin free everyday