Plato, Descartes, and "The Matrix" - A Problem of Philosophy

 

I. Question: What do an ancient Greek philosopher, a seventeenth-century French philosopher/mathematician, and a popular science fiction movie made in the 90s have in common? Answer: All three explore the idea of our world as an illusion, and question the relationship between our senses and reality. 

The most obvious similarity between the movie The Matrix, the cave analogy of Plato, and Descartes’ Meditation, is that all of these works doubt the reality of the world around us and call into question the validity of our sense perceptions. “Let us suppose,” says Descartes, “that we are dreaming, and that all these particulars – namely, the opening of the eyes, the motion of the head, the forth-putting of the hands – are merely illusions” (Descartes, 1641, Meditations on First Philosophy). Likewise Plato proposed an interesting hypothetical situation of a cave where men lay bound up in chains, able only to perceive the shadows of figures on the walls as they passed by. Plato concluded that “in every way such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects” (Plato, 514 – 518, The Republic, Book VII). In the 1999 movie The Matrix, a giant computer system has taken over the earth and controls all of humanity’s minds in a virtual reality world. “What is the Matrix? Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated dream world built to keep us under control” (“Orpheus”, The Matrix, Wachowski, 1999). Thus, all three of these sources are asking important questions about our reality; is the world that we perceive as reality actually real? Or is it all simply a dream or a hoax conjured up by some Being who is having a good laugh at our expense? And how do we know for sure? Plato, Descartes, and the makers of The Matrix propose situations in which our minds are being controlled by something outside of ourselves, (whether it be a computer, shadows on a cave wall, or an invisible demon,) that determines what we perceive to be real.

However, though all three of these sources are asking similar questions, it is mainly their way of answering these questions that distinguishes them from each other. The movie The Matrix portrays a society that has been duped and taken over by a computer system, while a small group of dissidents band together to fight its control – while this band recognizes that the world they believed in for so long was not actually reality, they have managed to extricate themselves from the Matrix’s grasp. However in both Plato and Descartes’ hypothetical situations there is no way to escape the prison of our false perceptions, because the entire world that we see and know is one big virtual reality game. Plato describes what would happen if a prisoner in his hypothetical cave was released – “he would find it painful to be so hauled along, and would chafe at it, and when he came out into the light, his eyes would be filled with its beams so that he would not be able to see even one of the things that we call real” – but he does not tell us whether this “real world” consists of our spiritual afterlife or some other world more “real” than this one  (Plato, 514 – 518, The Republic, Book VII). We do not, in fact, ever find out from Plato or Descartes what happens when we “wake up”, so to speak, (if all of the reality we know is simply one fantastic dream.) Imagine how complicated The Matrix’s plot could have become if the rebels found out that the real world to which they had escaped was, as Descartes and Plato proposed, also a grand illusion of our senses?

Thus the main difference between The Matrix, Plato’s cave analogy, and Descartes’ hypothetical “malignant demon” is that while the movie shows a way back into the real world, Descartes and Plato merely throw out the suggestion that we are dreaming or have been duped, and leave us to wonder how and if there is any way to escape back into reality. They suggest that the real world we know is not real at all –“I will suppose that the sky, the air, the earth, colors, figures, sounds, and all external things, are nothing better than the illusions of dreams, by means of which this being has laid snares for my credulity” (Descartes, 1641, Meditations on First Philosophy).  However even Descartes admits that to continue thinking this way is impossible, and is not a practical way to live. 

II. So... which is better: the harshness of reality or the “ignorance is bliss” of illusion?

One of the most famous lines in the movie The Matrix is spoken by the character Cypher as he questions his decision to escape from the Matrix to reality. “I know what you're thinking,” he says to Neo, “'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here…why, oh why didn't I take the blue pill?” This is indeed a valid question. If this whole world we know is one big dream why not stay asleep, rather than awaken to a harsh reality that might not turn out to be as comfortable as our dream world? However in God’s eyes, the harshness of reality is always much more important than the ignorance of bliss. This is obvious for two reasons – the very essence of our God’s character, which is truth, and the fact that our lives shouldn’t be determined by physical comfort and blissful illusion alone – we attain to a higher goal.  

First of all, our God is one of truth as it states in Devarim 32:4, “All His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.” To choose a life of lies over one of emet would be to go against the character of the God we serve. There are many ways to vary from the path of truth, and all of them are despised by God. There are six things Hashem hates, among them a lying tongue and a witness who tells lies (Prov. 6:16-19) Clearly it would be wrong in God’s eyes to “take the blue pill” and spend the rest of one’s life living a lie instead of serving Him in truth.

Moreover, the main flaw in Cypher’s thinking in The Matrix is that he came to value the physical pleasures and comforts of the virtual world above the truth, and eventually above his own friends or morals: “You know, I know this steak doesn't exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? [Takes a bite of steak] Ignorance is bliss.” Cypher has obviously confused his priorities, leading him to eventually kill some of his teammates and meet a violent end. Our goals in life as religious Jews, however, are not merely to pursue pleasure or seek comfortable lives – they are to serve the God of truth, no matter how difficult or harsh this truth may be. As Socrates and Glaucon conclude: “Socrates: ‘Well then, if he recalled to mind his first habitation and what passed for wisdom there, and his fellow-bondsmen, do you not think that he would count himself happy in the change and pity them?’ Glaucon: ‘He would indeed’” (Plato, 514 – 518, The Republic, Book VII).

                                                                    

Sources:

Descartes, René. Meditation I of the Things Which We May Doubt. Excerpt from Meditations on First Philosophy. 1641 C.E.

Plato. The Allegory of the Cave. Excerpt from The Republic. Book VII. c. 514 - 518 B.C.E.

Wachowski, Andy, and Lana Wachowski. The Matrix. Directed by Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski. Los Angeles: Warner Bros. Pictures, 1999.