The AI-powered English dictionary
(science fiction) A simulated reality to which many humans are connected. In some works created by sentient machines to subdue humans. quotations examples
“The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games,” said the voice-over, “in early graphics programs and military experimentation with cranial jacks.” […] “Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts … A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. […] ”
1984, William Gibson, chapter 3, in Neuromancer (Sprawl; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Ace Books, page 51
Now some folks want to claim that we're in the Matrix right now (or that the physical world is an illusion).
2009 September 23, possum, “Re: In which the Trollpa evinzes hizzelf aza profezzional nuizzance”, in talk.religion.buddhism (Usenet), message-ID <64c3fc87-b24c-4339-9e04-b4ecaa1497f7@a6g2000vbp.googlegroups.com>
Recent events have made it abundantly clear that the fabric of the universe is unraveling. Reality as you know it, the matrix if you will, is dissolving.
2017, Chuck Lorre Productions #557 (post-episode text), "The Recollection Dissipation", The Big Bang Theory
(figurative) A social institution or apparatus perceived as largely deceptive or illusory. quotations examples
They claimed that Paraguay’s accommodating immigration laws have proved attractive to Germans who want to “escape the matrix” and flee the “deep state and one world order”.
2022 January 27, William Costa, “German-speaking Covid denialists seek to build paradise in Paraguay”, in The Guardian