The Matrix: What It Is To Be Human?

The Matrix and the Allegory of the Cave focus on one central idea: What is real?. They engage the audience in a fictional world where people live in false realities without knowing it. They make us question our own knowledge. Their storylines connect in that the protagonist discovers that everything he knows is a big lie and now he must discover the truth. The protagonist is thrown all of the sudden into the real world and then, he continues to seek the absolute truth. Neo and the prisoner inquire whether knowing the truth is a blessing or a curse.

The Matrix script has a complex symbolic storyline, with apparent philosophical allusions, and is full of elements and clues that could provide the reader with multiple interpretations. However, beneath this complex layered structure, its underlying main theme is about the nature of reality. In this essay, we study three of the most noticeable philosophical references in The Matrix: Plato’s allegory of the cave, Descartes’ mind-body problem, and Baudrillard’s simulation theory. For each of these philosophical ideas; first we draw parallels between the script and the idea, and then we examine to what extent The Matrix accurately reflects the idea and stays loyal to its conclusion.

In 1999, Larry and Andy Wachowski directed The Matrix, a movie featuring the future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality or cyberspace called "the Matrix”. This fake reality was created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the human population. To some, this movie represents just another brilliant Hollywood sci-fi action film, but for others, it challenges the understanding of perspective, reality and appearance ("The matrix 101," 2003). The Matrix heavily relies on the concepts of Irish Philosopher George Berkeley who believed reality, or reality as humans perceive it, is fundamentally mental and therefore immaterial which is known as Idealism.

The Matrix and The Oasis are—in a sense—the same. These two worlds are both a huge lie and an escape to many people. But, they have some essential differences. These differences provide an interesting contrast between The Matrix and The Oasis. The three main differences include: ignorance and the choice of it, virtual versus reality, and the definition of a hero.

In the class activity we learned about The Matrix. This movie is based off of a society that includes people who go through their usual routine without challenging the usual occurrence. Most of the people that live in “The Matrix” society are swayed towards what they should believe and to complete tasks without questioning them. These people, most likely, carry out tasks that they wouldn’t if they had their life in their own hands and were able to make decisions involving their well-being, first. However, there is one man who did question his life because of his ability to sense that there has to be something more. With that being said, he was able see through his daily life that he had

The world is not always what you think it is. Things change or can appear to be

Which pill would you take the red or the blue? Continue living a life you’re comfortable with rather than go out and seek the truth? If I had to make a decision I would definitely choose to find the truth just like Neo. In the movie, The Matrix, there are two worlds.

The machines used the human thoughts for energy to keep them alive and functioning. Determinist would view this as psychological forces influencing the peoples’ mind (Chaffee 2013). When some of the people woke up they realized reality to them was not true reality. People were content with a false reality, until they realized it was not real. Some people liked how the machines fed them dreams and wanted to remain the same.

The Allegory of the Cave, by Plato and The Matrix have similarities and differences when compared. These two story lines are completely different scenarios, but they both paint the same picture leading you to the question what is real?

The Matrix, Plato’s The Republic (The Allegory of the Cave), and Descartes Meditation I, have a lot more in common than I thought each story had, but had a lot of differences as well. They all examine the reality that they are living in. The Matrix is about how computers are controlling human beings. They think they are living in this world where you wake up, go to work, get married, have kids, and die. The reality is that it was all lie.

The Matrix, written and directed by the Warchowski Brothers, is a 1999 film that features a man by the name of Thomas Anderson. Thomas Anderson works as a software developer for a highly respectable software company called Metacortex, he is also a secret computer hacker under the alias “Neo.” Neo is contacted by a man named Morpheus, the leader of a group of underground freedom fighters, Morpheus explains that the reality in which Neo currently lives in is actually a complex virtual reality simulation known as the Matrix. Protected by a group evil Artificial Intelligence known as the “Agents,” the Matrix is a massive computer generated dream world that tricks humans into living enslaved lives of blind obedience to it’s system while it harvests

The idea of reality has been in question for many years. Philosophers have dedicated their time to uncover the true meaning of reality and the understanding of the life a person lives. Hilary Putnam, Plato, and Rene Descartes all question the idea of reality and the perception of life, beliefs, and the possibility of another explanation for the entity humans have perceived themselves to be. How does The Matrix based on Putnam’s ideas, Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave, and Descartes Meditation 1 compare in ideas? How do the three various pieces contrast?

In the documentary Return to Source: Philosophy & 'The Matrix' by Josh Oreck the director analyzes The Matrix and points out the philosophical and religious concepts that are presented in The Matrix. The film informs the audience about philosophical assumptions that human beings use to question life. The film compares The Matrix to a large thought experiment where many philosophical assumptions are all combined into an experiment. The main philosophers that the film analyzes are Emmanuel Kant, Jean Baudrillard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Renes Descartes. Moreover, the films points out majority of Baudrillard’s philosophical findings on simulation and that there is no such thing as reality. Furthermore, the films explains that people that are

I perceived the world to be real only a week ago. The world I was living in seemed right, seemed real, but my perception was clouded by the Matrix. What I thought was a class at college, a school in rural Tennessee was actually a simulation controlled by a super computer. Perception, the way one organizes, gives meaning to and manufactures recognition of everything and anything (Gray & Wegner, 2012). We perceive things differently, everyone sees, hears and senses the world differently by giving things different latent constructs. My perception is plagued by the falsities provided by the Matrix, where I question what my actual previous knowledge is and what is my simulated knowledge, or is it the same (Matlin, 2013)? My interpretation, after reading about the computer processing system that controlled my mind and other sources on perception through old books, is that I am able to read and write because I learned how to recognize the patterns that make up each letter, word, and slash that creates each word in my lexicon, otherwise known as my vocabulary. Whether this was taught by the forces at hand or

The Matrix is a film directed by the Wachowski Brothers depicting a future in which machines rule. The machines have created a complex computer program called “the matrix” which simulates a form of reality. The machines have enslaved humans by hooking them up to the matrix so that they can harvest them as an energy source. A number of people have been able to escape the matrix and they continue to fight the war against the machines in hopes of being able to free everyone still trapped within the matrix. Throughout the film the main characters Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity enter back into the matrix several times for various reasons. Because the film bounces back and forth between reality and the matrix, the film induces a strong theme of