According to the story line of The Matrix, when the machines rose to power, the human race made a last ditch attempt to stop them by blocking out the sun. The tactic worked in that the machines were no longer able to get energy from the sun. But the machines were resourceful and found another source of energy.
The machines adapted themselves to draw energy from living organisms – their former masters. Humans were raised in vats in huge farms the size of cities. And in order to keep their human livestock docile, the machines connected them all into a shared virtual reality so detailed that the humans had no idea there was anything else.
Chevron has been running a series of ads lately about their efforts to find new energy sources and to make better use of the ones we already have. The commercials all end with a tagline about how they’re going to do this by using “…the energy we have most in abundance: human energy”
I sure hope Chevron isn’t getting ideas from the movies!