Reality Check
Joni Montoya
South University Online
Are We Real?
What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see gorgeous eyes, silken hair, clear skin and a lovely shape? Or do you see wrinkles, unruly hair, imperfect skin and excess pounds? Do you see perfection or imperfection? We all have certain ideas of ourselves, and whether we realize it or not, much of what we see comes from television and the movies. The heroes are always muscular, tall and handsome, and the heroines are always beautiful, at least here in the United States. But when you look at a picture of yourself, do you ever think, “I don’t look like that, do I?” Do you see you in that mirror, or is it society’s view that you see? What do you really see?
In the …show more content…
Is it something that can be touched, or tasted, or felt? According to The Matrix, these are only electrical signals interpreted by the brain. The Allegory of the Cave of Plato come to mind here (Chaffee, 2010, p.27). In the story, men are chained in a dark cave since childhood and are looking at a blank wall. There is a fire behind them, and the men see only shadows on the wall of what is happening outside the cave. One man is released and leaves the cave. At first he is blinded by the light, and them he begins to see what is real and understands that what he knew before he left the cave is not reality. He returns to the cave and tries to make the others still chained understand that what they know is not real, but they are not open to new ideas because that is all they have even known. This Allegory refers to Neo being awakened by Morpheus to reality and Neo sees the light of true reality and attempts to bring it back to …show more content…
The first type is compatibilism, which is the view that all events are caused. Compatibilists believe that all events that they endure are caused by some external force, which would be the machines of the Matrix. (Chaffee, 2010, p.142). However, some of their actions could also be considered indeterminism (South University Online, 2014). This means that they could also have made decisions and acted independently of any outside forces, their actions were not determined by any previous events. The main protagonists of the movie, Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, Cypher and the others in the buried human city and on board the ship realize that they exist outside the Matrix (Young, 2013). They do not know themselves well because they have been under the influence of the Matrix for so long, but they are fighting for the right to be free from illusion. Their sense of self seems to be connected to all of the other freed humans and their fight to remain free from the Matrix. There does not seem to be any distinct religion or ethnicity except for the religion of humanity. Men and women eat together, pray together, and live together like a cult that worships freedom from the machines. I do not know if they are conscious of having separate selves, but they are conscious of being a community and of being
Joni Montoya
South University Online
Are We Real?
What do you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see gorgeous eyes, silken hair, clear skin and a lovely shape? Or do you see wrinkles, unruly hair, imperfect skin and excess pounds? Do you see perfection or imperfection? We all have certain ideas of ourselves, and whether we realize it or not, much of what we see comes from television and the movies. The heroes are always muscular, tall and handsome, and the heroines are always beautiful, at least here in the United States. But when you look at a picture of yourself, do you ever think, “I don’t look like that, do I?” Do you see you in that mirror, or is it society’s view that you see? What do you really see?
In the …show more content…
Is it something that can be touched, or tasted, or felt? According to The Matrix, these are only electrical signals interpreted by the brain. The Allegory of the Cave of Plato come to mind here (Chaffee, 2010, p.27). In the story, men are chained in a dark cave since childhood and are looking at a blank wall. There is a fire behind them, and the men see only shadows on the wall of what is happening outside the cave. One man is released and leaves the cave. At first he is blinded by the light, and them he begins to see what is real and understands that what he knew before he left the cave is not reality. He returns to the cave and tries to make the others still chained understand that what they know is not real, but they are not open to new ideas because that is all they have even known. This Allegory refers to Neo being awakened by Morpheus to reality and Neo sees the light of true reality and attempts to bring it back to …show more content…
The first type is compatibilism, which is the view that all events are caused. Compatibilists believe that all events that they endure are caused by some external force, which would be the machines of the Matrix. (Chaffee, 2010, p.142). However, some of their actions could also be considered indeterminism (South University Online, 2014). This means that they could also have made decisions and acted independently of any outside forces, their actions were not determined by any previous events. The main protagonists of the movie, Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, Cypher and the others in the buried human city and on board the ship realize that they exist outside the Matrix (Young, 2013). They do not know themselves well because they have been under the influence of the Matrix for so long, but they are fighting for the right to be free from illusion. Their sense of self seems to be connected to all of the other freed humans and their fight to remain free from the Matrix. There does not seem to be any distinct religion or ethnicity except for the religion of humanity. Men and women eat together, pray together, and live together like a cult that worships freedom from the machines. I do not know if they are conscious of having separate selves, but they are conscious of being a community and of being