Essay
Angel Robinson
Liberty University
Essay
Introduction
Reality is variable as it is merely a matter of belief and perspective. It is practically impossible to tell the difference between what is real and what happens to be a figment of the imagination. From a deeper philosophical perspective, it is hard to tell if what an individual considers as real is even real at all as it could be based on a misunderstanding of the entire concept of reality. The movie The Matrix entails the concept of the world having been taken over by machines who enslaved humans for the production of power. The machines create the Matrix, which is a false reality that most people in the world believe to be the truth. The main character gets a Descartes moment by facing the real reality and discovering that the reality he has always known is false. Similarly, Plato in the allegory of the cave presents people who have never seen reality and only believe that what they see in the cave is real. One has to wonder if it was better to continue believing that the instant world is real or would it be better to know the real reality.
Question One: Comparison Between the Matrix, dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, and Meditations on First Philosophy
The movie The Matrix alongside the two reading of Plato and Descartes all engender the doubting of almost all reality. As a primary similarity, almost all reality is doubted in the three works apart from the reality of the mind and the necessity of its function. In The Matrix, human beings are slaves whose bodies are used to produce energy (Wachowski & Wachowski, 1999). However, their minds are harnessed to a supercomputer and an abstract form of reality fed into those minds. Humans only see what the machines want them to see. In Plato’s work, humans are once again prisoners but this time in a cave (Plato, 518). Their reality is reduced to what they see in the shadows. Finally, Descartes, though not a prisoner reduces reality to only the mind and considers that only his mind is real. According to Descartes, there is no way of confirming what the mind perceives to be real (Descartes, 1641). The collective similarity of the three works is to create the concept that the reality that humans see may not be a reality at all but merely an illusion.
The main difference among the three works is the level and impact of manipulation within them, which comes in a form of hierarchy. The highest form of manipulation is in the movie The Matrix where the mind itself is under the control of the computer and the humans stand no chance of relaxing the deception (Wachowski & Wachowski, 1999). The level of control is reduced in Plato’s works where the only thing being controlled is what the men in the caves see. It is the men who convince themselves that the shadows represent reality (Plato, 518). Finally, in Descartes work, there is no control or deception at all with the whole world being open for Descartes to perceive. However, Descartes still manages to convince himself that the reality he sees might still be a dream (Descartes, 1641). In spite of the varied levels of control and deception, the three works still manage to present a plausible argument for doubting reality.
Question Three: Reality versus Illusion
Socrates was definitively wrong about humanity, or at the very least, modern humanity by trying to suggest that humans want to get out of the cave so that they can get a glimpse of the reality. In the movie The Matrix, the only man who was being honest with himself was Cypher when he said he knew the desert he was eating was not real but he loved the taste nevertheless. Ignorance is bliss because that is what the world is always clamoring for. For example, the movie The Matrix is X-rated because of the language and violence involved. The violence involved is so extreme that death is the common outcome rather than the exception. However, most people will be comfortable watching The Matrix in spite of the surreal violence but would shudder if there was just a little nudity and sex involved. Nudity and sex are reality and people would rather shy away from reality.
Similarly, people who are considered to be social misfits are locked away in prison, a punishment based on the reality that everyone desires freedom. However, most people in the world today invest in advanced forms of security systems to lock the real world away from themselves. In urban centers, almost everyone lives and works in a form of a prison where they not only lock themselves in but also lock the world out. Further, most pleasure and recreational activities including sports and the use of drugs are all geared towards seeking to escape from reality. The entire world cannot be wrong about the concept of ignorance being bliss with only Socrates and Morpheus being right. The fact is that people only want to know enough to be comfortable and close out the rest of the information out, seeking to rely on the adage about what one does not know cannot hurt them. In unequivocal terms, as long as reality has the potential to hurt, almost everyone in the world would prefer ignorance.
Conclusion
What the world today calls reality may be just a figment of collective imagination or perhaps the product of misrepresentation by a being more powerful or cunning that reality. Maybe the world is an experiment by celestial forces to whom humanity is inferior and mankind is just a pawn in the experiment. Alternatively, it is also possible that only dreams are real and what humans consider to be reality is just a bad dream. Like the main character in the Matrix, the realization that reality is just a mirage would be too much to take in most cases. It would be better to abide in the bliss of ignorance by accepting the version of reality that is most acceptable as the real reality.
References
Descartes (1641). “Meditation I of the Things of Which we May Doubt” Excerpt from René Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641.
Plato (518). “The Allegory of the Cave” Excerpt from Plato, The Republic, Book VII, 514A1–518D8
Wachowski A. & Wachowski, L. (1999). “The Matrix” Directed by Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. Los Angeles: Warner Bros. Pictures,