A definition of happiness cannot be made until it is clear whether or not one is talking about happiness as a state of mind or life that is going well for the person living it (Haybron, 2011). The movie 'The Matrix', (The Matrix, 1999) takes both of these accounts of happiness into perspective throughout the film and it explores them both in detail through different characters. This essay will concern itself with whether or not the belief that happiness and reality must be connected to each other. Is it possible for one to be blissfully ignorant in a world of lies such as described in the Matrix? The movie presses us with a multitude of questions about our own happiness. As we are living in a time of new technology, such as that of the Matrix, we may find ourselves more attached to the imitation of life that we live out through technology. 'A life without happiness seems scarcely one worth the having; one would bear it out of necessity, not out of its desirability' (Griswold. Jr. , 2002, p. 127).
The classic philosophical theory of the 'Brains in Vats' is presented within the movie. The theory describes a disembodied brain floating in a lab, connected to wires and a computer which contains a simulation of an entire world. It brain receives inputs from the computer and, in turn, produces outputs as responses to these inputs which are also fed back into the computer (Chalmers, 2009, p. 1). The deluded brains that are envatted (entrapped within the vat), believe that they are existing within a body and are living in a world which they may not be in at all. Neo's situation that the very start of the movie is similar to this. He believes himself to be a fully functioning human in a city in 1999. However this is not the case. He is bald, floating around space in 2199 far from an earth that has been darkened by war (Chalmers, 2009, p. 2). Neo is essentially a brain in a vat, that is the reality of the situation. Unsurprisingly, Neo is in complete shock when he finds out the truth of the situation. Everything he knew was a lie. How could he have ever been truly happy in a simulation of his life? He was living a lie, should he have remained blissfully ignorant?
The philosopher, David Hume simply says that reason can't know reality. This means that there is no non-rational means of knowing, and therefore knowledge of reality is just impossible (Chalmers, 2009, p. 4). However, there are other views such as the 18th-century philosopher Irish George Berkeley, who deemed that appearance is reality. Envatted brains, if they have been envatted their whole existence, still do regard their world as being reality However, other philosophers have different ideas. As Morpheus said in the movie: "What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain" (The Matrix, 1999). As the brains, or Neo in this case, have been envatted their whole existence, all they know is the world they have perceived, in other words, their reality. So from this, it can be deduced that the beings have true beliefs about the world. Their feelings are real. Happiness or any other feeling is real even if the being is envatted or living in a genuine reality (Chalmers, 2009, p. 3). Happiness as a state of mind or a way of life is validated by this case. Both can be felt or experienced by envatted or non-envatted beings or brains as seen in The Matrix and they are reality.
Happiness as a way of life or long- term is not a mood such as joy, bliss or delight. Mouse in the movie is happiest when he is with his 'woman in red', however this happiness he is experiencing is a mood. Even if one was t be content for a long- period of time, they wouldn't be happy. Contentment is a state of mind. A person who is content is tranquilised. This can be seen particularly well in the movie through the battery- cells made of humans when they are living a lie of a happy life but in the end all they are doing with their lives is making a battery to power a world they know nothing of (Griswold. Jr. , 2002, p. 131). The life of contentment is described as the life of a best by many, a dog and cat or other such animals would be happy living a life of contentment. When one is asleep, they are peaceful but not happy. Cypher within the movie, wants to be out reality and put back into the matrix to live a happy life. Cypher wants freedom from the harsh reality he is living. Cypher "embodies the question mark about the relationship between contentment (the purely subjective sense of well-being) and happiness (which is supposed to be tied to a knowledge of reality)" (Griswold. Jr. , 2002, p. 132).