Illusions and Truth [English Composition In Class Essay]

       Giving up something you once believed to be true is a difficult task. Especially when the truth is far worse. Between “The Matrix,” a science fiction movie released in 1999, and “The Allegory of the Cave,” an excerpt from Plato’s “The Republic,” the Matrix more accurately depicts the processes of surrendering illusions and finding the truth, in not only history but in other productions and from personal experience.

In the movie “The Matrix,” its shows Neo, the main character, in a post apocalyptic world, where machines harvest human beings for energy while keeping the mind sedated using an artificial reality simulation called the Matrix. Although it sounds totally far-fetched and far from being accurate, it actually shows how finding out the truth wont necessarily be dandelions and butterflies as Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave,” depicts.

To prove such accuracies, I will use “Oedipus the King,” a play, as an example. In the play, Oedipus is told a prophecy that foresaw him slaying his father and having sex with his mother. When he found out, and finally understood the prophecy, he gouged out his eyes, as his whole world came crashing down upon him. By realizing the truth about his true self, he was not better off as his entire family was slain. This is similar to the Matrix, because it shows that even though the truth is horrible, it is still the truth.

As a child I also dealt with illusion and the truth not being so pretty just like the Matrix. I was naïve as a child and only thought that the world was a fun place, and that if everyone was peaceful the world would be a better place. As I grew older and more aware I realized just how much poverty, pain and suffering that goes on in the world. It was an ugly truth. In the Matrix, when Neo discovers the real world, he literally vomits, because his mind couldn’t consume so-to-speak the information.

Throughout history many people lied about a lot of things to maintain control. One such instance of this is religion. Many religions were taught to children at a young age. But once they reach a certain age and discover other things, people would kill you if you did not believe what everyone else believed. Many people were forced into believing something such as Christianity to the African slaves 300 years ago in America. And Islam to Egyptians thousands of years ago.

Even though “The Allegory of the Cave,” seems more accurate in regards to the fact that there are no machines that control the earth and stuff of that nature, it doesn’t mean that events in the Matrix aren’t more likely to happen. In fact we could hypothetically be inside a “matrix” right now

Blog #5: The “Other” and Gattaca

Genetic Engineering has been one of the hottest ethical issues of the 21^st century. Many (including myself) say, that genetic research and technologies are the precursor to world control, enslavement and discrimination between regular human beings and genetically alerted -beings. Films and articles were published to shed light on this topic such as the movie “Gattaca,”(1997) and  an article titled “Man on the Moon,” written by George J. Annas. In both of these contexts, Genetics provides a dystopian environment, in which humans are discriminated based on their DNA makeup.

In the movie Gattaca, Vincent, the main character is a non-genetically modified human, born in a dystopian world where genetically modified technologies and humans, control most aspects of society.  The main character seeks to become one, despite all of the obstacles of averting the authorities; he was successful in achieving what every other bioengineered human could do.  In my opinion, this movie represents what the future may look like if such genetic applications were installed. Where the superior beings would take control and create a racial gap, so-to-speak. Annas also quotes this separation and inter-human discrimination “the genetically engineered ‘superior’ human, will almost certainly come to represent ‘the other.’”

In the Article “Man on the Moon,” Annas talks about the replication of human beings becoming “Products of our own manufacturer,” and that this would lead to the product improvement, disposal and replacement, as if they were toys in a toy factory. This treatment of other human beings would only lead to separation and rebellion. Whether the genetically modified beings would be victorious or not is unknown, but if they were, there would be enslavement and discrimination again, but this time with the tables turned.

Genetic experimentation has already been executed with the popular “Dolly” the cloned sheep experiment, conducted by Ian Wilmut, and has showed how real the situation has already become. Man debates sparked and ethical groups lashed out about future treatment of such cloned beings. In my personal view, I see in the future, humans cloning other animals for mass replication for either companies like McDonald’s or Burger King to produce artificial livestock for beef, or cloning other human beings for organ transfer and replacement. This situation has been portrayed in 2005 film “The Island.”

With genetic cloning, and biotechnology on the rise, it seems clear the possibilities of what the future can hold in store for the human race.

Blog 4: Ignorance, Bliss, and Knowledge in Oedipus the King and The Matrix.

     There are many similarities and differences in the movie "The Matrix" and the play "Oedipus the King." The Matrix, a movie released in 1999 is about a post apocalyptic, world, in which machines use a simulation to keep the human mind under control as they use their bodies as batteries. This simulation is an alternate reality called the Matrix. Oedipus the King is a play about a man named Oedipus who is told by a prophet that he will become king. kill his father, and have sex with his mother. The play is mainly about him discovering truth and trying to prevent the prophecy from occurring. Obviously both stories sound completely different, however they are similar as well in many ways. 2 major themes occur in both productions : Ignorance is bliss and the search for knowledge.

     In the Matrix, ignorance can be a good thing, or a bad thing. Cypher, a character in the matrix, betrays Neo the protagonist because he would rather live a "comfy" life in the Matrix, rather then know the truth, that the world is run by machines. In this case for Cypher, he would rather be ignorant to the truth. In Oedipus the King, there is a similar  but opposite connection between Oedipus and the oracle, Tiresias. Oedipus wants to know the truth about who he really was, and in doing so, he realizes that even though the truth is horrible, and has ruined his life. He would not accept not knowing the truth, or in other words, he could not live with himself  being ignorant to who he really was.

     In the search for knowledge, Neo, the Main character in the movie The Matrix, tries to understand his exact purpose. Whether he was the "One" or not. Throughout the movie, instances where "If this was gonna happen, would it still happened if you knew?" This paradoxical question points to Neo's search for knowledge  and whether knowing "the future" would change or not change the outcome. This similar question is asked in Oedipus the King, when the Prophet divulges information to Oedipus. Would he have still done these horrible things if he didn't know what the prophet told him?

     Despite being a movie about machines from 2199, and a play about a king from 1000 BC, the two works have very similar connections in the themes of knowledge, the search for truth and ignorance.

Blog #3: The Matrix: Utopia, Dystopia, and Realities

            Reality and the search for the truth have been used as the basis for many stories, movies, articles, events and books throughout history. Between Socrates description of a caveman’s reality in “The Allegory of the Cave” and Neo’s description of an alternate fake reality in “The Matrix,” The Matrix is a more accurate depiction of the illusions of reality, and the process of embracing the truth.

The Matrix, released in 1999, shows Neo, an average man, single, with a crumby life, and a normal paycheck. When one day he discovers that the world he lives in is far from real, and that he is actually living inside a computer simulation generated by advanced Machines and AI in a dystopian Earth. In the “Allegory of the Cave” by Plato, men dwell and are held prisoner in a cave, with nothing but shadows to look upon. And it’s until one of them turns around to leave the cave that he discovers what was outside, a better world or at least the world that was hidden from him and his fellow prisoners.

            The Matrix brings forth the idea that human brains are very much similar to computers. And that when technology becomes more advanced we could eventually download information and perceive information with just our brains and not require our senses or body in order to function. Even though this may sound far-fetched, the metaphor that the movie stands for is that we can be manipulated into believing what is real to actually be real. This happens, every day, to everyone all at the same time. Let’s say for instance, a little child was taught at an early age that stealing from others is good, and so that when they grew up, they would “know” that stealing is “right.” Despite the common ideology that stealing is not right. Who is to say what is right and wrong? People are fed information from each other to develop ideologies about what is right and wrong, and it’s this illusion of relative reality that The Matrix depicts in great detail, about machines telling humans, what chicken is supposed to taste like, or how a bird call sounds like via an artificial simulation.

            Also in The Matrix, when Neo first enters the “real” world he does not accept it, in fact, his brain and body don’t accept it either, and he begins to vomit all over the floor. He refuses to believe that what he once knew wasn’t real. In this instance where he tries to cope with the truth, he doesn’t like it at all, and at one point would rather believe in his fake world, then deal with living in the real one. This embrace of truth happens all over the world with religion, as research is being done to further advance physics, and to disprove the existence of a divine being that governs the universe, people don’t want to believe in it, and protest against it, and continue to believe what they want to believe, and visa-versa.

            Even though The Allegory of the Cave is also highly accurate in the sense that there are no machines and nuclear fall outs etc., It’s all relative to that time period. The Matrix is just a present day “Allegory of the Cave,” and is frighteningly close to what could actually be the truth. Perhaps we are living in a Matrix right now and we wouldn’t even know it.