Matrix and Descartes's Conclusions about the Dreaming - Movie Review Example

The Matrix Introduction The Matrix is a science fiction-action movie released in 1999 under the directions of Andy Waschowski and Larry. Staring the movie are Lawrence Fishburne, Joe Pantoliano, Keanu Reeves, Hugo Weaving and Carrie-Anne Moss. It was co-produced by Warner Bros, but Fox Studios from Sydney filmed a few scenes in Australia, and Sydney. The movie depicts a future, whereby, most humans see reality as a simulated reality made by sentient machines to subdue and pacify population of humans (Spencer and Tani 07). Energy is produced by heat from their bodies and electrical activities are used to produce energy. When Neo, A computer programmer, learns this, he rebels against the machines together with other people who are now free in the real world, from a dream world. The movie involves many references of hacker subculture and cyberpunk, where religious and philosophical ideas like evil genius, Rene Descartes, Vat Brain Cave’s Allegory and Homanages like Spaghetti Western, Japanese animation, and dystopian fiction. However, does the film relate to philosophical issues raised with Skeptics and the mind body problems? Film Review Many philosophical issues are dealt with in the matrix as it touches on many and different topics of philosophy. It is therefore philosophically relevant since some colleges that offer philosophy also focus on this film during the study. However, the first film was the executed, unlike the second and third, which people felt disappointed with (Meinhold 55). Matrix film is very interesting as it mixes Eastern and Western philosophy. The ancient Vedas gives the main point where all human beings are explained under the illusion of the spell of Maya. The Supreme God’s personality, energy of Krishna, is this Maya and that is what covers the entity that is living from their real identity and reality and leaves him thinking of themselves as very happy as they live in ignorance, irrespective of the condition they maybe in. this is shown when Cypher tells the agent that artificial intelligence is what cheats people while they are sleeping, and also acts as an agent of cover potency. The film is not very specific, since anyone can say it supports his point of view as well as prove it. Some people believe that every machine represents a corrupt multinational corporation or government. This is supported by the fact that we created them, we cannot control them, and they now control us, but many of us are not free because they feed us off (Meinhold 74). He adds that in order to fight them, one has to use deals that have an open source in all society’s aspects, including large businesses. It therefore means t5hat should allow us to sit on parliament or to nationally stream it live and Coke should tell all people about their secret recipe. The matrix generally received favorable critic’s reviews because of its imaginative vision and innovative visual effects. Many authors of science fiction positively commented on the film. Some called it number one, an absolute science fiction and others said it was possible for anyone to apply it at whatever level he was in. The Matrix makes use of many references to recent literature and films as well as philosophy and historical religions. In post-modern thoughts, the Matrix references the philosophy of Baudrillard to demonstrate the movie as a contemporary experience allegory in a heavily media-driven society and commercialized developed countries. In 1990, reviewers commented on similarities between the matrix and Descartes and Plato’s films in their views about perceptions, reality and dream. Josh (73) observes that the movie wants the viewers to judge for themselves, concerning the matrix program. The most interesting philosophical issue in the film is what is not good about being in a matrix program. Is it good to be inside the matrix program or is it much better to see things just as they are? Relationships between the Matrix and Plato Descartes Philosophies According to Irwin (71), it becomes much easier to understand if one takes into account an atom’s actual structure and the placement and scale of its components. If one considers the fact that protons and neutrons form a heavy cluster at the atom’s centre and the electrons orbit leaving big spaces between the nucleus and them, it therefore becomes clear that at any time, atoms make solid objects which are 99% of empty space. However, this still does not appear important until the idea of atoms making seemingly solid objects of conglomeration that is looks, but that shares the same attraction without touching each other is added. This is the hidden philosophical issue in the film. The philosophical issues in the matrix are appearance and reality. It raises the question of how to understand whether the things we see are real or just illusions. This brings about a skepticism situation in the film and real world. In such cases, genuine knowledge is unattainable. It also exploits the Descartes’ theory fears like is life actually a dream and how do you differentiate between when you are awake or dreaming? It involves soul and mind manipulation where there are no real consequences of human actions in a world that independently exists in their own minds. However, some dreams are indeed lucid and very vivid such that one can hardly know if their experiences are dreams or reality (Irwin 77). This is the problem of course because there is no sure test to differentiate vivid or lucid dreaming from real world perceptions under normal circumstances. Furthermore, we normally have problem in differentiating the quality of our dreams since this is sufficiently remote from the experiences of our waking to give us an assurance that what we dream is not real. Therefore, conceiving the next possible step of perpetual and sensory manipulation of what lies at the matrix’s narrative core only takes a little imagination. It will only be possible to probe the brain regions and the lower animal’s brain deeper regions if neurological research further continues with its present day success rates. Such comprehensive research would throw all our perceptions into doubt. My mind might also be manipulated to make me think that control of comprehensive mind s a future possibility, while it is actually when the fact is that it is a reality in the present, and that this is mid 25th century but not the end of 21st century. Such speculations throw up what is called ‘knowledge problems’ by philosophers or, how do we surely know everything? The difference between what is good and what is bad is that when the situation is bad, you cannot tell about that situation but when it is good, you cannot understand whether the situation is good or bad. The fact that this does not apply to blind or drunk situations make Descartes think that the dreaming case is special since he can easily know when he is dreaming. He however says that good situation is when he is awake and bad situation is when he is dreaming. The first Matrix was made to be world that is perfect for human where nobody suffered and everybody would be happy. This was disastrous because nobody could accept this program. On the other hand, all crops were lost making people believe that programming language of describing the real world has been missing. What I believe is that human beings, as species, use suffering and misery to define their reality. Perfect world would have the dream of removing primitive cerebrum. The Matrix was therefore redesigned to the civilization peak (Josh 64). Hence, the future can be called our time, world, and this is what limits human happiness as depicted in the matrix. Coincidentally, the Matrix of the stipulated world neo exactly looks like real neo. While taking a steak, Cypher says that the steak does not really exist and he knew it immediately he puts it in the mouth. The Matrix tells him that it is juicy and delicious and then he recognizes that ignorance is bliss. After neo is removed from the Matrix Morpheus tells him that real is just electrical signals which are then interpreted by brain if real is something that can be felt, smelt, seen and tasted, on appearance or reality (Faller 58). Today, the world exists like a neural-interactive simulation, which is called the matrix. The matrix is the experiment thought to convey that all we perceive might be only illusions problem. Descartes realizes that in his life, he has accepted false beliefs and this falsity infected other beliefs, which he based upon. He therefore sought his belief by putting aside all the ones that were questionable until he finally finds a secure place to base beliefs that had truth beyond doubt. From here, he could possibly know which ones to accept or which ones to reject. Because many of his them are concerned about his senses. He notes that his senses normally mislead him and therefore, he started doubting some of his believes that are sensory. However, he does not distrust all of them. However, he believes that all his sensory beliefs are good, and trustworthy. Using senses, he can know, without doubt, how things are under good perpetual conditions. Until now, nobody has opposed his belief as untrustworthy under conditions that are perpetually good. However, Descartes remembers that he at times believes he is awake when he is actually dreaming. Therefore, it becomes hard for him to know if he is dreaming or not. He does not understand how to really perceive his hands, because it might just be a dream, but if it was a dream, he could see everything being the same. This signifies a similar situation to that of Neo of the matrix supported by Morpheus utterances that, it is possible to have a dream that some one thinks is so real and one would not be able to know if he was in a real or dream world, if he was unable to wake up from the dream. Descartes imagines that his dreaming considerations made him doubt all his sensory beliefs. He even doubts things that are near enough or with ample lighting and therefore thinks that there are some beliefs about dreaming argument that have not yet been challenged. Though what we dream is usually false, Descartes confidently thinks that we can still have such things existing. Therefore, the argument of dreaming does not challenge our general belief about truth of the world. More over, it does not give Descartes any reason to doubt his belief in mathematics. Just like matrix, he does not understand if living is realty or a dream. He thinks that a certain devil could be deceiving him about such things. He thinks that all his beliefs had to come true because he knows that he is thinking about it and the belief says he is thinking about it. Therefore, the belief would come true. Just like in the Matrix, he thinks he is awake while dreaming and this leaves him in a situation where he cannot tell if he is dreaming or not. He further says that even when he is awake, he still cannot tell whether he is dreaming or not. Though this is an important step, we are still suspicious about skeptic’s argument steps even if it is such small. Like Plato and Descartes, Matrix believes in dreaming experiences, which are not true in the blind or drunk cases. These are clear experiences that one gets while sober, but which you cannot get when you are awake. Descartes and Plato’s also say that even if you are awake, a test to determine whether you are dreaming or not does not exist. Furthermore, no matter the kind of test you appeal to, the results will still be that you were dreaming to have been performing the test and that it gave the results it gave. Unlike Matrix, Descartes says that it is possible to tell if you are dreaming or nor and if you are awake. Philosophers also believe that dreaming argument is a so powerful that they support both Matrix and Descartes conclusions about the dreaming argument (Irwin 108). Finally, Descartes says that if one cannot differentiate whether he is dreaming or not, he then cannot trust any of his senses on what they say about his environment. He says that in order to know anything concerning the external world, based on his sensory experiences, he must know that such experiences are not all dreams. One has to know that he is not dreaming if he is to know anything about the world when it is based on sensory experiences. When we put all these claims together, we come to understand that we cannot know anything concerning the external world based on your sensory experiences because others argue that one must know that he is dreaming, and others say you cannot know when you are dreaming. Therefore, you are out of luck, and so goes skepticism. Conclusion The Matrix is a science fiction film that has very strong effects in Hollywood. Several writers have used the film to produce their own fiction versions as well as comedies like Scary Movie and Shrek. The movie relates to Descartes and Plato’s movies in similar and different ways. The similarity between them is that they are all concerned about reality and appearance as portrayed in a dream and real world. Though Matrix argues that it is hard to know when you are dreaming and when you are not, Descartes says that it is possible to know when one is dreaming or is awake. Philosophers also believe that dreaming argument is so powerful that they support both Matrix and Descartes conclusions about the dreaming argument. Work Cited Faller, Stephen. Beyond The matrix: revolutions and revelations , Chalice Press, 2004. Irwin, William. The matrix and philosophy: welcome to the desert of the real . Open Court, 2005. Josh, Oreck. The Matrix Revisited . [DVD]. Warner Bros, 2001. Retrieved on 21st May, 2011 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix Meinhold, Roman. Being in the Matrix: An Example of Cinematic Education in Philosophy. Journal of Philosophy and Religion. Bangkok, Assumption University, 2009. Spencer, Lamm and Tani Kunitake. The Art of the Matrix. Titan, 2000.  Retrieved on 21st may, 2011 from http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/1/matrix.htm Read More