After watching The Matrix and reading the readings from Plato and Descartes you se some differences and similarities between the two. When comparing the hit movie The Matrix with the readings from Plato and Descartes there are many similarities. Some of the ways that they are similar are; In The Matrix you watch or read about a man named Neo who by day is a normal joe, doing normal joe things but, by night is a computer hacker. This is his life, or at least the life that he knows to be true. From the readings of Plato and Descartes we consider what would happen to a man that is trapped in a cave only ever looking forward and can assume that again this is his life, or, at least the life that he knows to be true. What we could understand from The Matrix and the Plato readings both is, that; both men are living lives that they assume are normal or the same as everyone else; because neither of the men have ever known another life, or known that there are things beyond themselves. This makes the first major similarity that, that people only know what is true to them. If a person spends the majority of their life believing that something is one way, then to them that is their truth. The second thing that The Matrix and Plato readings have in common is that both discuss what happens when the above said person would be, “brought to the light.” Both attempts to consider what would happen when the (in a sense) “trapped” person is shown the truth about the life that they are living and shown that there is more than just the world that they are living in.
Which leads to discussing the difference between the two. In the Plato readings, Plato seems to suggest that a person wouldn’t want to know the truth outside of themselves; that a person would be content only knowing the life that they have known. To show them otherwise would mean dragging them from the cave. In The Matrix Neo in given the option of the “red pill” or, the “blue pill”, giving him the option between knowing the truth about the world and returning to his previous life in the dark. This suggests that there are people who want to know the truth; that people deserve to have an option between staying in the dark and being brought to the light.
Which option would be better? In The Matrix it is said that, “ignorance is bliss,” by a character that couldn’t handle the truth. Is that true? Would it be better to face reality or would it be better to live in the illusion? This could be a gray topic area, because in both situations obviously we as outsiders can see that there is much more to life and want to tell the “trapped” person so. However, what if the person is happy and content with their life? What if the person would be worse off if they knew the truth of reality? In my opinion I feel that this is a topic that one can only answer for themselves. Much like living wills, health care choices or any other ethical issue that a person would make for themselves. I think that in this situation I would want to know that truth good or bad, because from that point forward I could work on my life with a full understanding of what was out there. I also don’t think that there is much of a life to be had if you are always questioning if you are dreaming, or wondering if you are living in some kind of cave and don’t know it. Which brings me to my next question.
How does a person really know that what they are experiencing is real? I dont think that there really is a way to prove that what I am experiencing is real. Mainly because, what is real to me may not be real to someone else. To me it is real that I am sitting in a library typing out an essay for my PHIL 201 class, but to someone else I may in a tub of goo, or tied up in a cave. What is one person’s truth may not be the same for another. I know that for me, I believe that there is really no way to know what I am experiencing is real; much like The Matrix or Plato’s Cave. However I feel that if I were to know more, God would tell me somehow. I feel that belief in this world is a matter of faith. I have faith in God and in the world I know to be true.