Blue Pill: Welcome To The Real World

People seem to think that everything that happens to them everyday is real. The question is, though, “What is real?”. Is everything you see everyday really real or is it fake? We might see fantasies that other people or machines have created for us. Maybe we are the ones that are not enlightened yet. Numerous essays and films have been produced on this subject. One essay is “The Allegory of the Cave” written by Plato in 360 B.C. Also, the movie The Matrix was filmed in 1999. Even though many differences can be drawn between “The Allegory of the Cave” and The Matrix, there are many similarities as well.

Having read the synopsis from The Matrix, the excerpt from Plato, The Republic, Book VII, 514A1-518D8 “The Allegory Of The Cave”, and the excerpt from Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641 “Meditation I Of The Things Of Which We May Doubt”, I am able to conclude that there are similarities as well as differences among these readings. Each question the state of reality in which we live. Is our reality a true state of reality or is it a state of mind we have allowed ourselves to exist in?

What is reality? What is known? These questions are constantly being reviewed keeping people anxiously waiting for the real answer. The Matrix is a popular movie dealing with many philosophical ideas from, Gods, Beauty, Reality, and existence. The Matrix deals with an intelligent “computer hacker,” Neo, who questions many things such as reality as he lives two different lives day vs. night. With that being said, Neo starts to ponder how does he know what is real, true, or all knowing. As humans we face this challenge everyday, how do we actually “know?” We know because of our senses, evidence, observations, assumption, and Epistemology.

As the plot of The Matrix advances, this “reality” is explained. Neo eventually wakes up, and witnesses the truth – a world controlled, by machines. As he awakens to a dark desolate world, towers taller than sky scrapers surround him, loaded with humans – in a cocooned state. Machines monitor these sleeping humans - who are unaware of the truth. One of these machines quickly scans Neo, and realizes things aren’t quite right with him, and so he is released down a tube leading to a body disposal, and his possible demise. They (the machines) obviously don’t want him

In the movie, truth is revealed to be reality, the world as it actually exists, or, life outside of the control of the Matrix. While Kierkegaard presents the belief that the only truth that matters is subjective, the Matrix claims that only objective truth matters (Kierkegaard). Reality is an objective subject, and the Matrix is subjective due to its existence as merely a computer system in a person’s brain. Therefore, according to the movie, truth is our objective reality. Morpheus tells Neo that reality is outside of the Matrix and claims that all those still living in the matrix are enslaved by the machines (The

* Eternal and unchanging, yet dependent on a Super-Form, “the Good”, which establishes a true reality and holds true the center of Platonic reasoning, so it is not absolutely real.

In the other hand, I would argue that real is something that we count on, smell, touch and could hear. I see myself one way but I am convinced that every single person in this room might have a different saying about me which is fine because I could see myself differently at various points but it all boils down to one personality that adapts to different scenarios. The reason of this paper is to explain reality in the character of Lormerin.

What is real and what is really real? Philosophy is interesting and can be really confusing at times. The film I will be analyzing with philosophical views does a good job on giving examples of the nature of reality and the Methodological doubt. I will show by giving examples of Descartes rule that everything is to be doubted and Plato’s allegory of the cave.

The second philosopher that analyses the problem of what is reality and what is not in the Introduction to Philosophy textbook is Christopher Grau. Grau, in his essay, expands on Descartes idea of the “evil demon” by basing it off of The Matrix with his theory, The Brain in a Vat Theory. The theory is just like it sounds. Just like in Total Recall, an extremely intelligent device has the ability to give humans and gives them a false reality of a life. What Grau is purposing is that we, as people, could quite possibly be hooked up to a super computer and given false memories and experiences as well.

People say life is a mystery and is not susceptible to anything except for death. Most say that there is even life after death. But what if all of that was just futile. That we were not even real. That we are just a dream or a simulation of some other world. This is the topic that could make most confused or skeptical and make some question our very existence. Are we real? Do we have free will? Is life a simulation? Life could be a simulation or a dream in the sense that we have the technology to do so. To be able to run a simulation, we would have to have the processing power to be able to interact with every A.I. and to process every thought and action that everything does. But we are decades away from that.

     In the film The Matrix Keanu Reeves plays Thomas A. Anderson, who is a man living a double life. One part of his life consists of working for a highly respectable software company. The second part of his life he is a hacker under the alias "Neo." One day Neo is approached by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and is taught that everything he thought was real was actually The Matrix, a computer program developed by machines in order to use human beings as batteries. Morpheus has been searching his whole life for “the one” to end the war between the humans and machines. Morpheus feels Neo is the chosen one, the one who will set everyone free from the Matrix. Neo is reluctant to accept this

According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, real is defined as “occurring or existing in actuality.” However, that is only one of many definitions and it is very vague. The word real’s meaning can depend on context. Because the definitions vary, the word can be associated with various words such as true, factual, tangible, honest, and legitimate. Imaginary is defined as “existing only in imagination : lacking factuality.” Some words associated with the word “imaginary” include make-believe, fictional, made up, dream, fake, and pretend.

What is real? A thought in both The Matrix and Allegory of the Cave. The Matrix, written by Lana Wachowski illustrates many questions throughout. The main character, Neo, tries finding Morpheus in need of an answer to his question. What is the Matrix? Considering, Morpheus is the most dangerous man alive, he does all that he can to find him. Neo is approached by Trinity and led to the underworld to meet Morpheus. They soon realize that Neo is “The One” who can defeat the Matrix. Similarly,The Allegory of the Cave,which took place in ancient time, humans were living in an underground den with their necks and legs chained only seeing their shadows in front of them. The people trapped in the den are like the people in the matrix, not knowing

We do not learn till later that the movie is simply a computer data that creates a dream world for its prisoners. We can honestly say that nothing in the scientific world of the movie was real. The Matrix was created by fake machines. Morpheus in the movie explains to Neo after he is reborn into reality. The term Morpheus comes Greek mythology, his name refers to the ability to change. The term fits well with it because, Morpheus has control over the dream world

Silently, my senses begin to abandon their rationale…who is to say then what is real? The world that we live in, the reality, which we are a part of, is small and thus limited. That is why, in his infinite capacity for potential improvement, man created fantasy. Fantasy is BIG! To a certain extent it is more imaginative, more exciting, and more fun. Fantasy is like a lake where man throws all his ideas and dreams, and then he dives on in from the springboard of imagination. So, jump in to the lake. Why not? Just make sure that when you jump in to the lake you know how to get back from where you came from. Because, no matter how big a fantasy is, to the point that it somehow changes our perception of what is