“I know Kubernetes!” — Neo

The Matrix scene where skills and knowledge are uploaded directly into Neo’s brain is iconic. To many, this is the ultimate learning experience: lay back, stab a giant-ass plug into your brain, and let the upload begin.

Ahhhh! Sweet.

Kung Fu. Shakespeare. CSS.

However, the scene doesn’t end there.

“Show me.” — Morpheus

What follows is one of the movie’s most epic kubectl action sequences, which mid-way results in a bit of a cluster fuck (😇) as Neo is kicked in the belly with an abort signal by Morpheus. Morpheus follows up with some deep philosophical insight, they cuddle some more, and ultimately Neo defeats Morpheus. Morpheus neatly summarizes the lesson at the end (don’t give Claude — a.k.a. The Chaos Monkey — free reign).

On to the next training program!

Hang on... lesson learned? Training program? Why run through training programs if we have these giant plugs stabbed into our heads that allow any arbitrary knowledge and skill to be streamed in? Why not queue up the insights to be gained from all more interactive training programs, and flush them through Neo’s brain in a few seconds as well?

That would have been rather boring, though, wouldn’t it?

Any story can be accelerated by introducing shortcuts. Let Gandalf appear in The Shire to pick up Bilbo on some flying horse, drop him off on the front lawn of Smaug The Dragon and save us all a long and painful trip.

Have a little birdie fly by Luke, tell him (spoiler alert) Darth Vader is his father and Leia his twin sister (explains the ear lobes). Park a nice ship in front, with the Death Star already pre-programmed in the navigational system. And go go go!

Productivity, people! No time for the frivolous. Let’s go!

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