about "the matrix" we live in...

That's it, that's where we are now. 21st century, and what makes it different is the Internet, or should I call it as the "Matrix". It's everywhere, it's part of our life, it's not "want" anymore, it is a "need". It's "another world" merged into our world.It's the Matrix, but you don't need to plug in anything, just click the button of your computer, handheld device, mobile phone.

Nowadays people are also living online; either working, studying, entertaining themselves, communcating with others through chats/messengers/VoIP programs, reading news or any other kind of information, googling around, watching video or listening to music, sharing data and information, committing crimes by hacking the privacy and information or the bank accounts, earning money doing e-buisness, promoting themselves through blogs, galleries and forums, etc. In our world, they are just sitting in front of the computer, but they are connected to the other virtual world and things are happening there with direct impact here. Isn't that the Matrix?

In this world, our identity is signified by the names, surnames, citizen ID cards/passports, date of birth. In that world, there are nicknames, user IDs and passwords. I am "Aibek Dunaev" in this world, but I am "aybek20" in MSN world, I am "aibaskype81" in Skype world, I am "st.fibonacci" in Google world and "aibek_dunaev" in Yahoo! world. In this world, most of us are just ordinary people. In that world, anyone can be the celebrity. Some people are shy, unnoticed and unconfident here, but they are the most interesting, talkative, popular and confident people there. Those innocent faces can be the dangerous criminals in that virtual world, and ordinary office clerks can be super-heroes there. Isn't that the "matrix"?

I know some people who are mostly "online", or let me rephrase it as "being or existing in the other world". And the time of being online is getting bigger with wireless networks. I agree that in near future wireless connection will be everywhere in the cities, and maybe some day everywhere in the world. Access to the Matrix will be from everywhere.

Emails, blogs, e-banking and other accounts with personal information, online communities, forums, personal or business web-pages, photo galleries, video galleries, e-government records about us, gossips, etc. - soon this world will have all information about us. If someone gets access to them and erase or change them, or basicly destroy us in virtual world, and it may not harm us physically here, but yet it will have big impacts on our real lives here. An ordinary person will be able to and already can get some information about us using powerful Google and other future powerful search engines, but more smart and skilled ones can get to every bit of information/data about us. So we are not safe from the attacks in that world as well. Our privacy is also not secured.That virtual world already has its criminals, and yet police forces or the protectors need to catch up with them there.

Just by thinking of my own life, I realize that I have been living in the other world as well for some time already. Just one example, the other day I asked my friend where I could find a hairdresser, he started to explain me saying "...get out of metro, walk straight, then turn left when you see the Ceska sporitelna bank...", and I said "Hold on. We are living in 21st century, just go to mapy.cz, online map for Czech Republic or Google maps and send me the map of that area with hairdresser's location marked on it.". Also, since recent times whenever I want to buy something I started to check products online first, see and compare the costs with other models/types, and read other people's opinions who bought and used these products. I am not walking around the shops and checking out products now, I am doing my shopping online, in the other world, in "the Matrix". Though I still try not to pay online, I am afraid of the criminals of that world. Not mentioning about the emails, messengers, Skypes, photo albums, youtubes, news and entertainment web-sites that we use everyday now. And of course, his Majesty, Google! I am still amazed, and I hugely admire it. Internet has everything, and the main shortcut to everything is through the Google. It is the gatekeeper of that virtual world. It knows everything, it keeps even old erased information, and most importantly it has downloaded almost whole internet into its databases. It has saved that virtual world's copy in it. It has the eyes, Google Maps, that can show us our home, our neighbourhood, office, or the pyramids, or the statue of Liberty, or any other corner of the world from above. I use Google everyday in all possible ways. I google someone I met recently and sometime I can get all information about this person that is on the Internet; blogs, pictures, videos, forums, online communities, achievements recorded on the web, news about that person, previous jobs, other's opinion about him/her, etc. That's the power of Google. I found many old friends through Google, I still keep up-to-date about them with Google. I found new friends through Google as well. In this world Google is growing and already highly reputated company because it is so powerful in that other world.

I realized that for the past 3-4 years, I've been spending more of my time on the "other world". Out of sleeping and work time.

This world is built on the atoms, and that world is built on the bits. Chemical elements listed on Mendeleev's table represent the foundation of this world, and "0" and "1" represent the foundation of the other.