Difference Between The Matrix And Nozick's

The Matrix, on the other hand, is more than just a thought experiment. It is a narrative that is judged aesthetically, and as such its success requires that its creators produce something that will captivate and engage an audience. Carroll has asserted that, narratives, far from being complete, have gaps which need to be filled by the audience. That is, creators of narratives do not spell-out every detail of the narrative, instead, narratives rely on the elicitation of moral emotions from an audience in order to be intelligible and aesthetically successful (Carroll 1996: 227-228). This would mean that the aesthetic success of The Matrix depended on its creators tactically evoking the appropriate moral emotions from viewers. I suggest that, …show more content…
The most significant difference between Nozick 's scenario and The Matrix 's narrative is the starting place of the individuals who are faced with the concepts of the experience machine and Matrix. Although in Nozick 's example, individuals start outside the machine, those in The Matrix, like Neo, begin life in the Matrix. Neo 's subsequent choice to unplug from the Matrix to confront the real world would go against status quo bias and aversion loss, which, I suggest, explains why The Matrix 's narrative revolves around sinister machine rulers, who treat humans as mere batteries, and aim …show more content…
The differences, rather than separating the two, are instead the result of the different mediums that Nozick and the film-makers worked in. In Nozick creating a succinct thought experiment in an academic text, he is unable, for example, to draw emotional responses from visual cues or in depth character development and interactions. Instead, his thought experiment utilises psychological biases, that perhaps he himself was unaware of. Greene (2008) has argued that, common to arguments against utilitarianism, and typical of judgements that align with our intuitions, people tend to pronounce their intuitive judgements then rationalise them after the fact. So, perhaps Nozick, intuitively feeling that pleasure cannot be what ultimately matters, conceived his thought experiment in a way that was a harmonious fit with his intuition. In regards to The Matrix, it is difficult to imagine an equally engrossing and exciting narrative, that did not revolve around a virtuous and strong 'hero ' character like Neo, who is in a clear 'good versus bad ' conflict – a strongly enticing story for our moral selves (Carroll 2010). Turning Nozick 's thought experiment into a film, just as he described it, would likely