If you've read Descartes' Meditations, and if you've seen The Matrix, then it has probably occurred to you to think of the film as an alternative example of Descartes' "evil genius" scenario. The film has the advantage of being a vivid, living-color presentation of the notion of a completely manufactured reality. But it's less than an ideal example.
The Plot
It's sometime around the end of the 23rd century, and intelligent machines have taken over the world and enslaved humans. Now, really intelligent machines with a lust (?) for power would just kill all the humans. But humans created a nuclear winter, blocking out the sun, in hopes of depriving the machines of power. Then the machines discovered that humans make great electrical generators. So now billions of humans are harnessed to the power grid, each one living out his life in a little pod. To keep them in their pods, the machines feed a virtual reality program (the Matrix) into their brains that gives them the experience of a normal human living in 1999.
(Technical quibble: I'm no engineer, but it seems preposterous to suppose that humans could ever generate more energy than they consume. And such intelligent machines would surely have figured out a way to convert that consumed energy directly to electricity, without the middlemen and -women. But, no humans, no movie. And I must admit, the scene with the pods was pretty cool.)
Then there are the rebels, a group of humans who either got themselves detached from the network or were never part of it. They experience the real reality of the 23rd century, and their goal is to liberate their fellow humans from the virtual reality (1999) that (they think?) they're living. They locate the one pod person who has been prophesied to become master of the Matrix and deliver all humans from it -- Keanu Reeves -- and they proceed to liberate him. Up to this point the film is actually quite interesting. But once Keanu acknowledges his destiny and takes up the struggle, the film becomes just another high-tech action flick, with Keanu and his pals fighting the Agents that the machines put into the Matrix to defeat them. Lots of kung fu fighting, gun battles, chase scenes, and things blowing up.
Philosophical Implications
The Matrix is a "reality" that everyone lives, but isn't really "real", even though it's indistinguishable from the real thing (at least as it was in 1999). One interesting complication over the standard solipsistic "brain in the vat" scenario is the fact that all the humans are plugged into the same program, so that they can experience each other just as we do. Thus two people can meet on the street, shake hands, have a conversation, and have exactly the same experience as you and I would, with one difference: their bodies are actually located, not on the street in front of one another, but in two different pods, perhaps remote from one another. (We know this, they don't.) This means that, within limits, humans can exert an influence on the Matrix -- I choose what I say to you, thus affecting the experience provided to you by the Matrix.
While it's superior to the brain-in-the-vat example, the Matrix still doesn't serve Descartes' purpose. That's because, even if you and I are currently living in the Matrix, experiencing 1999 while our bodies exist in pods in 2299, we can at least be certain that we have bodies. That is, if the alternative to real reality is the Matrix, then I can be certain that my body is either in front of this computer in 1999 or in a pod somewhere in 2299. Keeping in mind that Descartes' purpose is to doubt everything that can possibly be doubted, having the evil genius deceive me about my entire experience is clearly superior to the Matrix. With the Matrix, I can doubt that my body is here (rather than in a pod); but with the evil genius, I can doubt whether my body exists at all.
Still, it's a worthwhile philosophical exercise to ask, "Might this all be the Matrix right now, and if so, what difference does it make? Why is this any less real than 'real' reality?" And it's nice to see a philosophical exercise portrayed on film in a fairly compelling way. After leaving the theater I enjoyed the sense of unreality that was attached to my 1999 surroundings for a few minutes.
One question that scarcely gets addressed in the film, but is actually quite central to the plot and is of particular philosophical interest, is this: why are the rebels so keen on liberating the other humans? After all, the people hooked up to the Matrix aren't suffering any more than people who experience the real 1999 today, and they certainly suffer less than the rebels. We know why the rebels picked out Keanu for liberation: his nagging sense that something wasn't quite right with the reality he was living, "like a splinter in your mind". But what if the other pod-dwellers don't have that nagging sense? What if they would prefer, if they had the choice, the undeniably more comfortable 1999 in the Matrix to the dark and dangerous 2299 of reality? In fact, one of the rebels turns traitor after he decides that the Matrix, although unreal, is still preferable to rebellion. He is readily identifiable as the villain, so the filmmakers count on us seeing it as self-evident that living one's own experience, come what may, is preferable to merely consuming an experience provided for you. As a philosophy teacher, that's a sentiment that I wholeheartedly endorse. One might say that teaching philosophy is analogous to attempting to detach people from the Matrix (that's me, the Keanu Reeves of the classroom). But as a philosopher, I still have to ask, "Is this preference really so self-evident? And why?"
The Inconsistencies
These are some of the things that bothered me most about the film. If you think you can explain away any of these problems, please send me an e-mail.
1. Keanu Reeves. Who actually takes this guy for an actor? How does he keep getting work? His agent should get an Oscar.
2. A computer (or computers) supposedly controls the Matrix and sets conditions on reality for the humans plugged into it. Thus, within the Matrix, the machine in control can have its own Agents pop up out of nowhere, absorb any number of bullets without being wounded, and get run over by a train and jump up for more. But when the good guys try to escape, the Agents are restricted to running after them on foot, and they're lousy shots, so the good guys always get away. Why is this? So we can have some exciting chase scenes, I guess. If machines really do control the Matrix, why do they even need Agents? Just so the audience can have recognizable bad guys?
3. Why is it that when you pull the plug on someone who is in the Matrix, disconnecting him from it, he dies? The Matrix sends signals into the brain, and the brain sends signals back out; when the connection is broken, why shouldn't the brain return to its normal functioning (i.e. experiencing real reality)? The whole business with having to find a corded telephone in the Matrix in order to get someone out doesn't make sense. These two plot devices do provide the only suspense (can Keanu get to the phone in time, before the monster machines who are about to kill the rebels have to be zapped with an electrical pulse that will disconnect him from the Matrix?), but they defy what seems to be an obvious fact in the film, that the Matrix exists solely within the brains of the people who are experiencing it, not somewhere "out there".
4. The learning programs -- a card is plugged into a computer that is plugged into Keanu's brain, and in a few seconds he's become a kung fu master. The reason for this is apparently so the filmmakers can show us what a good kung fu fighter the real Keanu Reeves is. But the brain is not an electronic computer, it's a biological organ. Learning requires cells to grow connections to one another, and there are physical limits to how quickly biological cells can change their shape and size. Of course, we don't know what actually is inside the skull of someone who grew up in a pod; all we can see is a port in the back of the skull. Perhaps the brain has electronic wiring throughout (this might be necessary for something like a completely programmed experience). In that case, the learning programs could just upload data into the electronic hardware in the brain. But if that's the case, are the heroes still really human? Why should we be rooting for them?
Send me your reactions, to the film or to these remarks, and I'll add them
here.
One student writes:
i actually came up with a few of those gliches on my own after watching
the movie...they are challenges, but i think you have to attribute most of
it to the fact that it is just a movie and most people will simply watch
it for pure entertainment.
i don't think that they figure on too many philosophers analyzing it and
thus don't intend everything to actually have "real" and sensical backing.
every movie i have ever watched i walked out asking similar questions as
to how that would be possible...or didn't they see that was wrong...
As for Mr. Keanu Reeves...he is a good actor and deserves credit!!!! i
thought he actually performed better in this movie then in some of his
past flicks.
And here are some remarks from students at other universities:
well i stumbled upon your site while studying descartes and i think i
may have some ideas about the inconstencies you mentioned.
1. about keanu reeves...well, yeah his acting is lousy, but it fits what
he needed to do in the movie, which was pretty much sit back and say
"woah" a few times...
2. the agents possess the minds of people plugged into the matrix as
their way to interact with the other people in it. while i also dont
agree with this, it DOES give the film the suspense it needs to be
entertaining, and thats what its all about, entertainment. i agree with
your thoughts about agents being unnessasary, but its a movie and the
audience needs to have villans they can see.
3. as for the pulling the plug part, this is where ive had the most
trouble because of the part where neo dies and returns......i think that
the matrix tricks the brain into thinking its dead when one dies
inside...making the person die in reality, but i think the "miracle" of
neo's return from the dead is simply neo's realization that it is all
just in his head and that imaginary bullets wont do any real harm to him
(morpheus says shortly after neo comes back :"he's beginning to
believe"). as for severing the connection from the outside, i think it
would screw with the brain so much that it would just completely shut
down.....i dunno, thats how i interpreted it. and with the phone lines,
well i think that also goes with the suspense requirement of the film,
it would just be too easy to be able to jump in and out of the matrix at
will, we need to be in suspense, thats how action movies work. again, i
agree that it isnt very realistic.
4. finally, the learning programs. i, for one, have pretty much no idea
how the human brain functions, and i think the majority of the people
seeing this movie dont either. i didnt have any idea weather or not the
instant learning programs would work, but i just accepted it.
well, thats just my $0.02. i dont know if i answered any of your
questions, but i hope i helped shed new light on the subject.
okay back to studying descartes.
I've been enjoying browsing through your webpages, and I decided to write
when I came across your Matrix review, with which I had some minor
differences but which caused me to write this letter primarily because of
the questions you pose at the end. Before I get to that, though, I must
say I was disappointed by the Matrix after hearing all the great reviews
(well, disappointed from the reviews, I expected to be disappointed
before-hand, so in a sense I was not disappointed). As an action movie it
was great, but for metaphysics I thought it was mediocre at best.
So, here goes:
1. [On Keanu Reeves' acting:] Have you ever seen the Bill and Ted movies?
(Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey)
2. [On the need for Agents:] a) So they can keep the "plot" going a bit.
b) On a top-secret information network, the system operators run the
machine and excercise complete authority over any users of the system.
Unless a hacker illicitly gains access to the system. Likewise (I'm sure
you've gotten to the conclusion on your own by now!), the rebels have
"hacked" in their agents, their weapons, their helicopter, etc. However,
one should note the inconsistencies in their hacking ability: they quickly
and easily produced a fully armed helicopter and made it perfectly placed
and timed for use by our heroes. But then they were incapable of
engineering a quick escape or repairing the helicopter, etc. etc.? Go
figure...
3. [On the pulling-the-plug problem:]
One can easily imagine interactions between the real world and the Matrix
world that are not as straightforward as our first superficial logic
dictates. Possibly a Matrix bullet is programmed specifically to disable
the brain that is running the program that is infected by the bullet. The
corded telephones, on the other hand...
4. [On the learning programs:]
Picture a Commodore 64 (that's right, 64 kilobytes of memory!). Now
insert a program cartridge (not a disquette). It is easy enough to
conceive of a hardware device that is implanted and interacts with the
human brain to give it extra resources. This approach allows for a human
hero who has some artificially added ability in the Matrix world. This
does not conflict with our idea of the proverbial Hero, nor does it lack
cogency as an exercise in logic. Ta-da!
The point that I like the most in your discussion of the Matrix is that of "why the rebels are so keen on liberating the other humans". I love it. If i were in the matrix I'd prefer to stay there (given the choice). The outside world is underpopulated, ugly and probably smelly. Being "liberated" would be more of a curse than a blessing. I'm being exploited by these evil machines right? Well that is one interpretation. But I don't buy this story that humans are being used for batteries (too inneficent). The mechanical overlords of the matrix are doing humanity a service in my opinion. Don't listen to that rebel propaganda! Seriously though as long as I make an informed choice I'd choose to live in the matrix every time. I'm sure we're already quite aware that we cannot disprove Descartes' brain in a vat problem for the real world. My advice, live in what you think is reality, philosophize, critique and consider but don't just assume that some outside reality is better than the reality we have. That road leads only to religion.
1. I actually kind of like his acting style (or lack thereof) it doesnt bother me. I've seen worse actors (usually they are children) but there's little doubt his range is limited.
2. Your assumption that a computer (or computers) supposedly controls the Matrix and sets conditions on reality for the humans plugged into it is clearly wrong. If a computer totally controlled the matrix Fishburn and company would never have got free of it. It must be that the matrix is controlled or run by the humans who occupy it and that although started, policed and maintained by a computer or computers it is not defacto "in control". The computer(s) is neither omnipotent nor omniscient even within the matrix. It must send in roving police to stop Neo and his bunch therefore it cannot control per se the matrix. As evidenced by the bricking up of the building the computer or its minions have some power but not all power to control the environment.
3. A good question. It is traditional for cyberspace and cyberpunk novels and stories to have this convention that once jacked in your conciousness leaves your body and is endangered if not returned properly. Something like a high tech astral projection.
4.My interpretation of the The learning programs is slightly different from yours. Yes, a card is plugged into a computer that is plugged into Keanu's brain, and in a few seconds he becomes a kung fu master. But I believe this martial arts abaility functions only within the Matrix and the rebel "training areas". Just as I don't need to know how to load a shotgun in a computer game (I just press a button on a mouse) Keanu need not know how to karate chop in real life to do it in the matrix. The learning of these new skills is entirely confined to the matrix and not functional in the real world.
| Home | Links |
|---|