A Matter of Perception Essay Example for Free

A Matter of Perception Essay â€Å"How often have I dreamt that I was in these familiar circumstances that I was dressed, and occupied this place by the fire, when I was lying undressed in bed? † Rene Descartes in his writings from Meditations on First Philosophy brings to us this very reason of doubt of our senses and perceptions. For we have all â€Å"been deceived in sleep by similar illusions† (Descartes) placing the question, how would we â€Å"know the difference between the dream world and the real world? †(Synopsis: The Matrix) It is very interesting looking back at the works of Plato and Descartes in comparison to more modern works such as the blockbuster hit â€Å"The Matrix†. When examining The Matrix we see a complex world built by machines portraying to the human race a virtual world. This virtual world allows the human race to perceive a reality around them, a world built with the intention of blinding people from the ultimate reality that what they perceive to be real is an illusion. Plato in his famous cave allegory makes wonderful connection to the perceptions of reality and illusions. In Plato’s allegory he talks about prisoners who from childhood were bound to a wall and only capable of seeing shadows cast on a wall of puppets representing humans and animals. â€Å"Then in every way such prisoners would deem reality to be nothing else than the shadows of the artificial objects. †(Plato) In The Matrix Neo is very similar to the prisoner that is in the cave who both eventually finds the truth about the real world. Just as the prisoner, Neo has been living in a cave called the Matrix. This Matrix, like the illusions from the shadows of the uppets in the cave, leaves its prisoners completely ignorant to the fact that the world as they know it is not real. There is another similarity between Plato’s allegory and the Matrix. In Plato’s story the prisoner is assisted by a man who like Morpheus with Neo, helps the prisoner escape and see the world of reality. As these two stories go, Neo and the prisoner are brought to the light of truth and reject the world around them. These characters at first are â€Å"unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen shadows† (Plato). These shadows for Neo were the representations of reality that he had believed in. To the prisoner he believed the shadows to be the reality. However a major difference to note between Plato’s allegory of the cave and the Matrix is that in the Matrix, the prisoners are not physically bound while conscious by chains but mentally trapped in an unconscious state of a perceived reality that is pleasant. The cave however paints a dark picture of enslavement to the shadows to which the prisoners viewing the illusions being bound and chained and blinded from the outside world. Also contrasting when the prisoner escapes from the cave he is escaping to that outside world full of light and life from the dark. The outside world of the Matrix however is a post-apocalyptic world where the sun has been blocked out by clouds from war and pollution. To escape from the Matrix is to journey into the dark as opposed to the light. The desolation of the real world around Neo is what leads him to reject that real world around him. In the cave allegory, the liberated prisoner is blinded by the magnificence of the sun and light around him. The prisoner gradually opens his eyes to seeing real animals and humans instead of just the shadows. The beauty of the real world and real objects is at first what leaves the prisoner in question, objection, pain and then astonishment. The Cave allegory suggests that most men would seek to see reality. However in the Matrix there is an example of the opposite. Cypher sets up Morpheus in a deal with Agent Smith in order to be re-installed into the matrix and have his memory of the outside world wiped. To Cypher â€Å"ignorance s bliss† and he would much rather indulge in the illusion created by the Matrix than live in a harsh world. I believe though that the harshness of reality would be sought after as opposed to accepting the status quo or the illusion. We as members of society (majority) wake up every day go to work come home pay the bills spend our earnings. We live in the harshness of reality that is our world. That being said, I feel it is human nature to challenge the status quo and not accept what we have or know. Why do we as Americans thrive for excess? We do because we are not satisfied with the status quo. I believe that the reason most men would want to escape the cave is because of wonderment and a natural state of not being satisfied with what we have either materialistically or even our thirst for knowledge. Out of selfishness we would escape the cave because â€Å"ignorance of bliss† will not satisfy our core needs. Henry Ford wasn’t happy with how cars were produced so he escaped the cave of production standards. Steve Jobs didn’t think we needed a keyboard anymore so he created a tablet and escaped the cave of technology standards. We all are trapped in our own caves and though most of us are too busy or too afraid to take the risk, we all would take the opportunity to escape our caves and see a new truth come to light just as the prisoner did when he first saw the sun. In the film the Matrix one is able to break the logical governing rules of the program. In the cave you are have no such liberties, you are strictly a prisoner to the physical rules of the natural world around you i. . being physically chained to a wall and unable to move your head and body. In the Matrix, you are able to freely move around in this perceived reality and even bend the rules of the physical world which we see with Neo especially at the end of the film when he dodges bullets from Agent Smiths gun. There are also similarities and differences between the Matrix and Descartes. In Descartes writing he focused on doubting senses and the idea that the world perceived around him could all be merely a dream. I perceive so clearly that there exist no certain marks by which the state of waking can ever be distinguished from sleep, that I feel greatly astonished; and in amazement I almost persuade myself that I am now dreaming. †- Descartes In Neo’s world of the Matrix, humans are in a permanent sleep being used as an energy source for the computers who can no longer draw off the suns power. While in a state of sleep they are fed through cables in the back of their head a programmed simulation of a perceptual world. Descartes touches on this same concept in his dream argument regarding his perception of reality. Is he awake or is he dreaming? Descartes bases his notion of not being able to distinguish reality from a dream due to the point that dreams can release the same sensory information as reality and therefore we must doubt that sense. His argument seeks to doubt the perceptions of the world given to us by our senses. It was also believed by him that there was no way of proving whether or not we are in slumber or awake. In the Matrix that is a big difference because the characters are able to distinguish between this dream world created by the matrix and reality. Descartes also talks about a great deceiver who is the one obscuring our views of reality. In the Matrix we could we could compare that deceiver to those agents in the program. These agents at one point place a bug into Neo and he awakes the next day believing he was just dreaming. Another example of deception of the senses from the movie is when Neo was tricked by his perception of the lady in the red dress who turned out to be an agent. Whether we are all tied onto a wall restricted by the boundaries of the bonds which hold us there or merely in a state of permanent comatose, one thing is certain that our senses and perception of reality are always in question. Descartes believes that we should always be in doubt of our senses. Even in the Matrix Neo had the same question just like Plato and Descartes â€Å"What is the Matrix†( The Matrix) is it a cave or is it a dream that feels so real we don’t know we are in it? It is very interesting to see the connections behind the works of these two philosophers in comparison to a Hollywood presentation of the ultimate question, are we deceived by our perception of reality? Descartes went into an interesting point in his writing and I personally believe as he, there is a God who is ultimately good and would not let me be in a permanent deception. Though I am not going to get into this deeply I will make one additional thought in my writing that these sources brought up. If God is the one who frees us from our caves, who gives us the option to take the red or blue pill and can we truly know if we are awake or asleep?