Spoiler alert: If you haven't seen The Matrix, don't read this.

You know how when Neo takes the red pill he sees what the world actually looks like vs what the program that is the Matrix makes it appear to be? Well, the Internet actually is a program, not that the real world isn't, but there's no speculation about the Internet. It is one huge collaboratively written piece of software, created by the human hive mind. I promise you, this is the reality of it.

None of us actually know what the world under the projection looks like. If you have a server at Amazon, what is its physical manifestation? If you were in a room with all the servers what would it look like? But then is that what the real Internet actually looks like in any real sense? Is the reality the projection or the means of creating the projection?

What got me thinking about this was a Facebook post by Jason Pontin with a picture of a cat riding a unicorn, and I had a feeling almost like deja vu, as if the projection was flickering in and out and I could see the reality behind the effect. "That's it!" I shrieked. "That's what the Internet actually looks like."

I thought you would like to know.