In English the last couple of weeks, we watched The Matrix and read Heart of Darkness. Both of these, but especially The Matrix, got me thinking about the fact that our world could be totally fake and we would have no way of knowing it. In the movie, everyone stuck in the matrix thinks that it is all there is, that it is the "real world". Only Morpheus, Neo, and the rest of the people on their ship know that it is a hollow substitute for real life. They are the only people that know it is just a computer program designed to imitate the real world. What the world as we know it was really the matrix? How would we know?
The answer I came up with is a simple one: We wouldn't. Unless we were shown from the outside, like Neo was in the movie, we would have no idea that the world as we know it was, in fact, nothing more than lines of code. This possibility is a little unsettling, but I also have no reason to suspect that it is true. For the sake of my own mental well-being, for now I think I will look at the world from an empirical point of view and decide that The Matrix is a nonfiction movie.
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4 comments:
Brandon, I largely agree with what you have here. If the world were to be “fake”, we would have no way of knowing it, and no way of identifying what it is we actually know. It’s a load of circular logic. That’s why I feel it is best to just ignore the possibility that everything we know might have no basis. If we do accept that it is a possibility, there’s no way we can evaluate anything whatsoever. Even if we think we can get outside of it the system, the same logic applies, forces us to doubt everything and destroys our perception of anything.
Anyway, good post and good analysis of what it actually means to you. (in this case nothing :P)
-Deuce
i personally wouldn't mind knowing i live in a "fake" world. As long as I'm moving and living, I'm fine with it =]
After watching the Matrix, I felt and thought many of the same things you mentioned in your blog. I think the world is so overwhelming that adding on this new possibility of this being a computer program is just too much. However, watching the Matrix helped me understand post modernism and as a result I see post modernism everywhere! The more I think about it the more I see it around me. This makes me think that the Matrix could be right after all!
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