[Gllug] [OT] "The Matrix"

[Alistair Mann]

Thus spaketh Richard Turner on Wednesday 09 March 2005 21:21:

> Now, all malediction for the terms 'cyberspace' and 'The Matrix' aside,
> does anyone know who actually coined the term 'The Matrix'?  Endnote #2
> (http://www.albion.com/netiquette/book/0963702513notes.html) refers to
> [Quarterman, John S. The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing
> Systems Worldwide. Bedford, MA: Digital Press, 1990], but William Gibson
> was using the term 'The Matrix' in the same sense in Neuromancer, which
> was published in 1984.
>
> I quite like the idea of such terms originating in SF writings, but was
> the term knocking about before Gibson wrote Neuromancer?

There wasn't a whole lot of time before 1984 within which the term could have 
originated, but IWSTM it was coined within a contemporary conceptual 
development: Koyaanisqatsi [1] from 1983 shares it. The movie contains 
time-lapsed cinematography of North American streets such that you have 
streaky red and white lights of vehicles travelling at seemingly high speed. 
Within the context of the film, this sequence should perhaps be thought of as 
biological; but it could also be seen as a uniquely artificial 
interconnection of man and machine -- a matrix. Indeed, Phillip Glass' 
musical score for this sequence was called "The Grid". 

I shall further enhance the chances of this post appearing in Psued's Corner 
by suggesting that for the nascent cyberspace communiity, the concept was the 
leitmotif of the early 1980s :-D
-- 
Alistair

[1] http://imdb.com/title/tt0085809

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